T4G 
058 



IDAH 




FACTS AND STATISTICS 



CONCERNING ITS 



Mining, Farming, Stock-Raising, 

Lumharing, and Either Resources 

and Industries, 



TOGETHER WITH NOTES ON THE 

CLIMATE, SCENERY, GAME, ^ MINERAL SPRINGS. 



INFORMATION FOR TIIE II ME -SEEKER, CAPITALIST, 
PROSPECTOR, AND TRAVELER. 



BY 

James L. Dnderednk, 

Territorial Controller. 



SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. : 

A. L. Bancroft & Company, Book and Job Printers. 

1885. 



54664 



Gt 



i^Rc-m 



CONTENTS. 



•»UOlui" 



CHAPTER I.— HISTORICAL. 

PAOK. 

Organization — Origin of the Name — First Discoverers — Indian Depreda- 
tions — Development 9 



CHAPTER H.— DESCRIPTIVE. 

Mountains — Rivers — Valleys — Climate — Natural Scenery — Shoshone 

Falls— Lakes , 22 



CHAPTER III.— NATIVE TREES, PLANTS, AND ANIMALS. 

Timber — "Wild Fruits — Grasses — Wild Flowers — Quadrupeds — Birds 

—Fishes 29 



CHAPTER IV.— MINING. 

Discovery of Gold — Oro Fino — Florence — Boise Basin — Owyhee — Rocky 
Bar — Salmon River — Yankee Fork — Wood River — Camr d'Alene — 
Snake River Placers — Iron — Copper — Coal — Marble — Mica — Sulphur 
— Idaho's Yield — Minerals at Present Mined — Minerals Known to 
Exist, but not Mined 33 

CHAPTER V.— FARMING AND STOCK-RAISING. 

Classes of Soil — Irrigation — Fruit — Grain — Unoccupied Lands — Advan- 
tages for Stock-raising — Idaho Cattle — Reclamation of Desert Lands. 47 

(3) 



4 CONTEXTS. 

CHAPTER VI. — COUNTIES OF IDAHO. 

Ada — Al tnras — Bear Lake — Boise — Cassia — Custer — Idaho — Kootenai — 

Lemhi — Nez Perce — Oneida — Owyhee — Shoshone — Washington. ... 54 



CHAPTER VII.— IDAHO INDIANS. 

Kootenais — Salish Family, Coeur d'Alenes and Pend d'Oreilles — Sahap- 
fcin Family, Nez Perces — Their Origin, Customs, and Laws — Lemhi 
Indians, Shoshones, Bannocks, and Sheepeaters — Shoshones or 
Snakes, Original Territory, Customs and Characteristics — Territory 
of the Bannocks — Sheepeaters — Fort Hall — Advancement in Civil- 
ization of Indians — Signdanguage ^ . J33 



CHAPTER VIII.— MISCELLANEOUS. 

Schools — Churches — Societies — Newspapers — U. S. Land -offices — Rail- 
roads — Wages — Idaho Altitudes 139 



INTRODUCTORY. 



-^—. .-..■h^iii....... 

It is within the memory of men still living when prominent statesmen 
declared that no scheme could be more visionary than that of an internal com- 
merce between the Hudson and the Columbia. It was solemnly declared in 
the halls of Congress that " the God of nature had interposed obstacles to this 
connection which neither the enterprise nor the science of this or any other 
age could overcome." Less than two generations have passed away since 
these utterances were made, yet enterprise and science have virtually leveled 
these apparently insuperable obstacles. The spirit of " manifest destiny " long 
since determined to recognize no limit short of the Pacific Ocean, and is already 
erecting new empires in the far North-west. The trapper's trail has been fol- 
lowed by the emigrant's wagon, and both have been overtaken by the modern 
railway. Boise City, Idaho, is now within easier reach of Washington City 
than was Boston two generations ago. So swift have been the changes, so 
rapid the developments, that there is a constantly increasing demand for the 
latest information concerning this newly opened section. It is in order to 
meet this demand, and to dispel much of the misapprehension now existing, 
that the following pages have been written 

We have endeavored to avoid the exaggeration and misrepresentation which 
have too often characterized works of this kind, it being our aim to set forth 
as concisely as possible plain facts and statistics regarding the resources of 
this Territory. Many of the articles descriptive of the different localities 
were prepared by actual residents of the sections ; and as in many instances 
they were written under the direction of the commissioners of the respective 
counties, they may in a great degree be regarded as official. 

The writer desires hereby to express his appreciation of assistance rendered 
by several gentlemen, whose contributions on the different localities will be 
found in their proper places, duly credited. He also acknowledges his 
obligations to Messrs. Robert E. Strahorn, W. W. Elliott, W. A. Goulder, 
H. S. Hampton, C. L. Bood, H. J. Burleigh, A. Leland, Edward Ham- 
mond, and others ; also to the editorial press generally of the Territory, 

(5) 



6 INTRODUCTORY. 

and to the Salt Lake Tribune, whose labors in advertising the resources of the- 
Far West are especially deserving of commendation. 

Idaho is pre-eminently a country of the present and the future. From 
where the picturesque lakes of Coeur d'Alene and Pend d'Oreille bask in the 
wooded mountains of the extreme north, to where the cattle feed upon a 
thousand hills in the south, her vast territory is now open for exploration. Re- 
sponsive to the pick of the prospector, her hills are yielding up their treasures, 
which have lain hidden since the dawn of time. Her long-silent valleys are 
making to the husbandman a due return for his faithful and arduous toil. 
Within the past few months long-separated sections have been united by iron 
bands, and long-estranged communities brought into easy contact. The soli- 
tudes of ages are rapidly giving way to the demands of commerce and agri- 
culture. This mountain-locked Territory, now rendered easily accessible, offers 
unsurpassed advantages to the home-seeker, the prospector, and the capitalist, 
and extends a cordial welcome to all who with sturdy wills and willing hands 
may seek to share her bounties. There is land enough for all who may choose 
to come. Her fertile fields and inexhaustible mines, her extensive forests and 
unoccupied pasture-lands, her rushing rivers and her placid lakes, invite 
energy and enterprise to develop the resources which nature has so lavishly 
bestowed. 

Boise City, December, 1884. 



IDAHO. 



. cu«lliH^|IIH»t. 



Let others sigh of orange-groves, 

Where warmer sunbeams shine, 
The lofty mountains freedom loves, 

And freedom's choice is mine. 
I sigh not for a southern clime 

Where tropic roses blow ; 
Give me the pine-clad hills sublime, 

The hills of Idaho. 

Here many a crystal streamlet clear 

Flows from its mountain home, 
And ou its banks the peaceful deer 

Are free, and fearless roam ; 
And beautiful in evening still 

To mark the sunset glow 
Rest on some distant snow-crowned hill 

That towers in Idaho. 

Though commerce rears no cities proud, 

Though wealth has here no shrine, 
Though fashion draws no servile crowd, 

A prouder boast is thine. 
Thy sons are fearless, free, and bold, 

Thy daughters pure as snow, 
For honor, truth, and beauty hold 

The homes of Idaho. 

And I do love thee, mountain land, 

Though not a son of thine. 
For me thy scenes have something grand 

In every rugged line. 
For I was born among the hills, 

And reared where tempests blow. 
And thus my soul with rapture thrills 

To hail thee, Idaho. 

may thy children ever be 

To one another true, 
And blessed with peace and harmony, 

Their upward path pursue, 
Till, linked unto thy sister states, 

Thy star with tbeirs shall glow, 
And tell what glory yet awaits 

The youthful Idaho. 

— Cameron Ale Donald. 

(7) 



CHAPTER I.— HISTORICAL. 



ORGANIZATION. 

There seems to be some confusion in the minds of historical writers as to 
the time and manner in which the United States acquired possession of what 
is now Idaho Territory. The majority of writers and text-books assign it as a 
portion of the vast area included in the Louisiana purchase. This, however, 
is hardly correct. What was generically known as the "Oregon Country" was 
not included in that purchase. The facts are thus succinctly set forth in Mr. . 
Blaine's "Twenty Years of Congress:" "The Louisiana purchase did not 
extend beyond the main range of the Rocky Mountains, and our title to that 
large area which is included in the State of Oregon and. in the Territories of 
Washington and Idaho rests upon a different foundation, or rather upon a 
series of claims, each of which was strong under the law of nations. Wo 
claimed it, first, by right of original discovery of the Columbia River by an 
American navigator in 1792 ; second, by an original exploration in 1805 ; 
third, by original settlement in 1810, by the enterprising company of which 
John Jacob Astor was the head; and lastly and principally, by the transfer of 
the Spanish title in 1819, many years after the Louisiana purchase was accom- 
plished. It is not, however, probable that we should have been able to main- 
tain our title to Oregon if we had not secured the intervening country. It 
was certainly our purchase of Louisiana that enabled us to secure the Spanish 
title to the shores of the Pacific, and without that title we could hardly have 
maintained our claim. As against England, our title seemed to us to be perfect; 
but as against Spain, our case was not so strong. The purchase of Louisiana 
may, therefore, be fairly said to have carried with it and secured to us our 
possession of Oregon. " \ 

Oregon originally embraced all of the area claimed by the United States 
on the Pacific Coast from latitude 42° to 54° 40' N. It was jointly occupied 
by Great Britain and the United States until 1846, when Great Britain re- 
nounced all claim to the region south of the 49th parallel. The Territory of 
Washington was created March 2, 1853, embracing all that region lying 
between the Pacific and the summit of the Rocky Mountains, and north of the 
Columbia River and the 46th parallel. When Oregon was admitted as a 
State, February 14, 1S59, the region between what was established as its 
eastern boundary line, and the Rocky Mountains, and north of the 42d parallel, 
was added to Washington, which then comprised an area of 193,071 square 
miles, including the present Territory of Idaho and parts of Montana and 
Wyoming. 

Idaho was created by the Act of March 3, 1863, from parts of Dakota, 
Nebraska, and Washington Territories. As originally constituted it em- 
braced 326,373 square miles, including all the present Territory of Montana 
and a large portion of Wyoming. In 1868 Idaho was reduced to its present 
dimensions, extending from the British Possessions on the north to Utah and 
Nevada on the south; from Montana and Wyoming on the east to Oregon 
and Washington on the west, having a length from north to south of four hun- 
dred and ten miles, and a width from east to west varying from 60 to 257 miles. 
2 (0) • / 



10 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 



ORIGIN OF THE NAME. 



Idaho is generally supposed to be a corruption of an Indian word meaning 
"Gem of the Mountains." This, however, is disputed. The poet Joaquin 
Miller writes as follows on the subject : 

"The distinction of naming Idaho certainly belongs to my old friend 
Colonel Craig (since deceased) of Craig's Mountain, Nez Perce* County. As 
for some fellow naming it in Congress — bah ! The name was familiar in 5,000 
men's mouths as they wallowed through the snow in 'Gl, on their way to Oro 
Fiuo mines long before Congress, or any man of Congress, had even heard of the 
new discovery. 

"The facts are these: I was riding pony-express at the time rumors 
reached us through the Nez Perce Indians that gold was to be found on the 
head waters ciud tributaries of the Salmon River. I had lived with the Ind- 
ians ; and Colonel Craig, who had spent most of his life with them, often 
talked with me about possible discoveries in the mountains to the right, as we 
rode to Oro Kino, and of what the Indians said of the then unknown region. 
Gallop your horse, as I have a hundred times, against the rising sun. As you 
climb the Sweetwater Mountains, far away to your right, you will see the name 
of Idaho written on the mountain top — at least, you will see a peculiar and 
beautiful light at sunrise, a sort of diadem on two grand clusters of mountains 
that bear away under the clouds fifty miles distant. I called Colonel Craig's at- 
tention to this peculiar and beautifully arched light. 'That,' said he, 'is what 
the Indians call E-dali-hoe. which means the light, or diadem on the line of the 
MLonnttinM. \ Ltt ww the first lime / ever heard the name. Later, in Septem- 
ber, '61, when 1 rode into the newly discovered camp to establish an express 
ollice, I took with me an Indian from Lapwai. Wc followed an Indian trail, 
crossed Craig's Mountains, then Camas Prairie, and had all the time E-dah-hoe 
Mount for our objective point. 

"On my return to Lewiston I wrote a letter containing a brief account of 
our trip and of the mines, and it was published in one of the Oregon papers, 
which one I have now forgotten. In that account I often mentioned E-dah- 
hoe, but spelt it Idaho, leaving the pronunciation unmarked by any 
diacritical signs. So that, perhaps, I may have been the first to give it its 
present spelling, but I certainly did not originate the word.'' 

A writer in the New West, apparently well informed, declares that Idaho 
is not a Nez Perce word, adding: "The mountains that Joaquin Miller 
speaks of may be named with a somewhat similar appellation, but most likely 
the whole story grows out of the fertile imagination of the poet. Idaho 
Springs, in Colorado, were known long before Idaho Territory was organized. 
The various Territories at their organization should have been given some 
appropriate local name. Colorado was named after the river of that name, 
though it is not within its boundaries. It should have been called Idaho. It 
was the name first placed in the bill organizing it, but which was afterward 
changed." 

William TI. Wallace, the delegate to Congress from Washington Terri- 
tory, who introduced the bill making a new territory out of the eastern 
portion of Washington, pleased with the beauty of the name of Idaho, sug- 
gested it as an appropriate one. 

Ex-senator Nesmith of Oregon gives still another account: "The bill 
first passed the House of Representatives designating the present. Territory of 
Idaho as ' Montana,' when it came tip for consideration in the Senate on the 
3d of March, ISfi.'J. Senator Wilson of Massachusetts moved to strike out 
the word 'Montana' and insert ' Idaho.' Mr. Harding of Oregon said: 'I 
think the name " Idaho" is preferable to "Montana."' Idaho in English sig- 
nifies ' the (Jem of the Mountains.' I heard others suggest that it meant in 
the Indian tongue 'Shining Mountains,' all of which are synonymous. I do 
not know from which of the Indian tongues the two words ' Idaho ' come. I 
think, however, if you will pursue the inquiry among those familiar with the 
Ke/ Perce, Shoshone, and Flat Head tribes, that you will find the origin of the 
two worda as I have given it above." 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 11 



FIRST DISCOVERERS. 

Probably the first white men that ever visited Maho, so far as any authen- 
tic record shows, were the party that accompanied Lewis and Clarke in their 
exploring expedition in 1S05-6. They had passed along Snake River, named 
by them the Lewis Fork, to its junction with the Columbia. The river far- 
ther north was named, in honor of the other leader of the expedition, Clarke's 
Fork. 

On the ISth of August, 1805, the party were encamped near the junction 
of Horse Plain and Red Rock Creeks, in what is now Montana. Clarke set 
out with eleven men for a Shoshone village near where Fort Lemhi has since 
been built in what is now Lemhi County, Idaho. Clarke was to be joined here 
by Lewis, who brought forward the remainder of the party ami the baggage. 
They expected to proceed thence to the "navigable waters flowing into the 
Columbia." 

They arrived at the Lemhi on the 20th. There they learned that the 
stream near which they were encamped was joined ten miles below by a 
branch from the south-west. The Indian name of this " branch" was Sahap- 
tim; the modern name is Salmon. In the afternoon of the same day the party 
set out for Sahaptim River. On the "J 1st another village was reached, where 
a (ish weir was constructed. That evening they encamped on Salmon River, 
near where Salmon City now stands. Finding that the river was not navi- 
gable, they procured horses from the Indians. By the 30th twenty-nine ani- 
mals had been procured, on which baggage and goods were packed, and the 
first pack-train controlled by white men on Salmon River set out to explore 
the way to the Columbia. Keeping on the north side of the river, they trav- 
eled for about fifty miles, encamping on a stream they called Fish Creek, ten 
miles from its junction with the Salmon River, September 1st. On the l.*>th of 
September the company emerged from the mountains in which rise the waters- 
of the Lolo branch, ami on the 20th reached a village of the Nez Perces not far 
from the south fork of the Clearwater River. It is an interesting fact, as- 
showing the effect of change wrought by time and civilization, that the prairies, 
described at the time as barren and producing little more than a bearded' 
grass about three inches high ami a prickly pear of several varieties, have- 
turned out to be of rich fertile soil, now covered with fields of waving grain. 
No white settlers were found, and no settlements were attempted to be made. 
Traces of white men were detected, however, as Lewis ami Clarke write:: 
" Those strangers who visit the Columbia for the purpose of trade or hunting 
must be either English or Americans. The Indians inform us that they speak 
the same language that we do, and indeed, the few words which the Indians 
have learned from the sailors, such as musket, powder, shot, knife, file, heave 
the lead, damned rascal, and other phrases of that description, evidently 
show that the visitors speak the English language." 

Lewis and Clarke returned through Idaho in the following year. Early 
in June they reached the Salmon River, called by them the Sommanah. They- 
first ascended the creek on the south side of the Clearwater, twenty miles, 
thence over a high, rough country to the Salmon. No fish appearing in the 
Clearwater by the 10th, the camp was transferred to Quamash Flats, now 
known as Camas Prairie in Idaho County. On the 10th, though the snow- 
was still several feet deep, they renewed their journey, passing over into Mon- 
tana to the head waters of the Missouri, and finally reached St. Louis September 
2.*>d, thus ending their journey of nine thousand miles. The accounts of their 
explorations naturally aroused an interest in the Far West. One of the results- 
Was the formation of the Missouri Fur Company, which established a post, at 
Fort Henry on Snake River in 1S10, but which was soon afterward abandoned. 
In 1SI1 Wilson I\ Hunt and a party of sixty belonging to the Pacific Fur 
Company arrived at Fort Henry, whence they moved down Snake River. 
Leaving Fort Henry on the 10th of October they proceeded down the river 
in fifteen canoes. One of the parity, named Miller, had joined some hunters 
and gone south as far as Bear River, ha 1 been very successful in negotiating 
with the natives for peltries, but had been subsequently robbed of everything: 
by the Arrapahoes. Hunt's party proceeded down Snake River, but encoun- 



12 RESOURCES OP IDAHO. 

tered many perils. At last it was determined to separate into two detach- 
ments, Hunt with his guide and eighteen men to take the right bank, and 
Crooks with the remainder to take the left. They little knew of the dangers 
and distance to be traveled before reaching the Columbia; more than a thou- 
sand miles of unexplored wilderness lay between them and Fort Astoria; 
over this region wandered hostile and savage tribes of unknown numbers. 
The pack of each man was reduced to twenty pounds, including seven and a 
half pounds of food. Through that dreary month of November, 1811, the 
two parties remained separated, and it was not until nearly a month had 
elapsed when Hunt's party one morning while breaking camp heard the voices 
of their late companions calling across the river for food. "A vague and 
almost superstitious terror," says Washington Irving, " had infected the minds 
of Mr. Hunt's followers, enfeebled and rendered imaginative of horrors by the 
dismal scenes through which they had passed. They regarded the haggard 
crew, hovering like specters of famine on the opposite bank, with indefinite 
feelings of awe and apprehension, as if something desperate and dangerous 
was to be feared from them." A boat was hastily made of sticks, over which 
was stretched the skin of a horse eaten the previous night, by means of which 
a little meat was carried over to them. One of Crooks' party, almost demented 
from hunger, declared he could not wait for the food to be cooked, and leaped 
into the cahoe to be conveyed back to Hunt's party. As they neared the 
opposite bank, the thought of food so soon to be obtained acting upon his en- 
feebled brain drove him frantic with joy. Springing up, he danced with de- 
light, but his motions upset the frail canoe. He was carried away by the 
swift current and drowned. 

They were now about five hundred miles by river from Henry River. 
Several of the party, including John Day, were so ill that it was found neces- 
sary for the rest to leave them and push on. By the 15th of December they 
reached the site of old Fort Boise. They were still in two parties — one on 
each side of the river. "With great difficulty," says H. H. Bancroft, "the 
river being full of floating ice, and the men half starved and half frozen, 
weak and dispirited, Hunt crossed with his party to the other side, and join- 
ing their old comrades on the 24th of December, they started, pursuing a 
north-westerly course, over mountains, plains, and valleys, buying food from 
the natives, picking up and carrying the exhausted, who would throw them- 
selves upon the ground, declaring they could die but could not proceed an 
inch further ; and stopping on New Year's Day, 1812, for the Canadians to 
have their dance, and feast on dog and horse meat, though some of them could 
not stand." 

The next expedition of any importance was that of Captain Bonneville, 
who, in 1834, with one hundred men, camped on Port Neuf River, in eastern 
Idaho. 

In the same year Nathaniel J. Wyeth, with a party of sixty men, started 
across the continent and established Fort Hall as a trading post near Snake 
River. 

This was probably the first permanent settlement in eastern Idaho. 

On the 11th of June, Wyeth and his party encamped on a branch of the 
Blackfoot, near Port Neuf ; the 12th on Ross' Fork and the 14th on Snake 
River. The fort was permanently located on the east bank of the Snake 
.River, a little north of the Port Neuf. " The post became famous," says Ban- 
croft, "and performed good service during the several great overland emigra- 
tions. The emigrant trail was made to pass by it ; it was near to the Great 
Salt Lake ; was central and valuable in scores of ways. From this point in 
time radiated roads in every direction ; to Missouri, to California, to Utah, to 
Oregon, and to British Columbia. In 1865, Angus McDonald valued the fort 
and lands belonging to it at $1,000,000. It was near the old war ground of 
the Blackfeet, Snake, and Crows, and prevented many a massacre. It was 
several times attacked and nearly burned, but stood to its duty nobly." 
Wyeth and his party crossed the Snake on the 6th of August and explored 
the region for miles around. Crossing the mountains they encamped on Ma- 
lade River. On the 13th Camas Prairie was reached. Two days later they 
reached Boise River, "crammed with salmon." On the 23d they crossed 
Snake River, leaving Idaho behind them, camping on the rich plains of Malheur. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 1$ 

In 1836, Wyeth was forced to sell Fort Hall to the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany. The latter company had already erected, probably in 1835, what is 
known as old Fort Bois6 near the mouth of the Boise" River. The original 
structure fell down about 1847 or '48, but was rebuilt a short distance north. 
The new building continued to be occupied by the Hudson Bay Company 
until the United States acquired undisputed title to the land. 

According to the published account by Mr. W. H. Gray, the first mission 
in Idaho was established in 1836 at Lapwai, twelve miles from the present 
town of Lewiston. A printing press with type was presented in 1839 by the 
missionaries of the Sandwich Islands to the Presbyterian missionaries of Ore- 
gon, and it reached Lapwai that year, where E. 0. Hall put it in operation to 
print books in the Nez Perce" language. Messrs. Rogers and Spalding soon 
learned to set type, and they printed small books in the Nez Perce" language 
that were used in their school. 

"That old press and type are now stored in the State Capitol of Oregon, 
and the building used for that primitive printing office is yet standing, though 
somewhat modernized, near the Lapwai Mission in Idaho. This was the first 
printing office on the Pacific Coast of America north of Mexico. Thus Idaho 
has the honor of having the first printing press on the coast." 

The Roman Catholic missionaries seem to have been in the main more 
successful with the Indians than the Protestants, and in some instances have 
sustained their missions to the present day. Father De Smet in his Letters, 
published at Philadelphia in 1843, is responsible for the following statement : 
"The Jesuits De Smet, Mengarini, Point, and others had since 1840 made 
several missionary tours through the Columbia countries, in the course of 
which they baptized some thousands of Indians ; they also erected a church 
at a place near the Kallerspelm Lake (Pend d'Oreille), on Clarke's River, 
where the Blessed Virgin appeared in person to a little Indian boy, whoso 
youth, piety, and sincerity, say the good fathers, joined to the nature of the 
fact which he related, forbade us to doubt the truth of his statement." 

The Coeur d'Alene Mission was established in 1853. The building is still 
in existence at the edge of the Indian Reservation, on the Cceur d'Alene River, 
about sixteen miles from the lake, where the steamboats make their upper 
landing. It is in charge of Father Joset, but has been virtually abandoned 
for the " New Mission." 



INDIAN DEPREDATIONS. 

One of the greatest obstacles to the development of Idaho previous to 
1878 was the presence of predatory bands of Indians, who long regarded the 
mountain ranges and prairies of Idaho as their peculiar property. In another 
chapter space will be devoted to a description of the different tribes and their 
reservations. For the present it is our intention to refer to some of the dep- 
redations committed by the savages simply as tending to show with what the 
pioneers of Idaho had to contend in making the Territory a place safe as well 
as suitable for a civilized people to inhabit. From earliest times when Cap- 
tain Pierce first led his band toward the unknown Golconda, which afterward 
developed into the great Oro Fino mining region, the Indians have disputed 
the approach of the whites. Step by step the dauntless pioneer has fought 
his way into the heart of the mountains. The most cruel, the most treacher- 
ous kind of warfare that human deviltry could suggest has been brought to 
bear to thwart his efforts. It was enough to make the stoutest heart quail 
and the most enthusiastic ardor cool. 

But the same spirit which animated the early settlers in the eastern colo- 
nies two hundred years ago, and which, transmitted from sire to son, made 
American civilization possible, actuated the pioneers of the Far West in our 
own day. The men that blazed the trails through the wilderness and carved 
out new empires less than a generation since, were composed of the same stuff 
that has made American grit proverbial throughout the world. 

The same opposition to the development of the mines of North Idaho 
was repeated for many years, wherever new discoveries were made. The 
first party that entered Boise Basin, in 1863, were the victims of the blood- 



14 RESOURCES OP IDAHO, 

thirsty savages, and the death of Grimes disheartened th6 rest, for the time 
being, from further prospecting in that neighborhood. Subsequently a party 
Wore assembled on the Payette River, at a place known as Ticket Corral. 
The savages, consisting of Shoshones and Bannocks, were swarming in the 
surrounding mountains. A company was organized under Capt. Siaudiler, 
and succeeded in effectually subduing the Indians. It was a long and fierce 
Contest, and many of the survivors, broken down in health and property, 
never recovered and have never been reimbursed. Owyhee County bkewise 
suffered for years. In July, 1SG4, an engagement took place between Indians 
and volunteers, about eighty miles south of Silver City on the Owyhee lliver. 
They were in a canyon, the walls of which averaged 200 or ,'i00 feet in height. 
The light commenced about 2 o'clock l\ M. and lasted until midnight, and 
resulted in thirty-six Indians being killed and an unknown number wounded. 
But two of the whites were killed. A memorable encounter occurred near 
Battle Creek, in Oneida County, between United States trooops, under the 
command of Gen. P. K. Connor, and a large number of Indians. The follow- 
ing description was prepared expressly for this work, by Hon. Alexander 
Stalker, of Franklin, who was an eye-witness: The first settlement of South- 
eastern Idaho was made on the 14th of April, 1SG0, by thirteen families, sub- 
sequently augmented by others through the remaining spring and summer 
months to perhaps sixty families. The Territory of Idaho was not created 
by Act of Congress until nearly three years afterward. This portion of 
Idaho was infested by renegade Indians, they having been expelled from tribal 
relations because of their unmanageable and atrocious natures. The most 
blood-thirsty and ferocious of this class were the acknowledged leaders, the 
most notable of whom were Bear Hunter, Lehi, and Sagwitch, who, when not 
prowling around the settlements stealing horses and cattle, occasionally killing 
some one in the canyons or fields, weve depredating upon the unfortunate 
emigrants on their way to Oregon and California; not infrequently were we 
subjected to dole out of our scanty store such exactions as their wants or 
caprice might suggest. What expostulation could not avert we were com- 
pelled to grant, keeping up an appearance of friendship totally at variance 
with our feelings. A sense of our insecurity made it necessary for us to corral 
and stand guard over our stock every night for nearly three years. 

This condition of things culminated in the memorable battle of Battle 
Creek, in the winter of ISb.'i. between a d eta tch merit of California volun- 
teers commanded by General P. Hdward Connor, consisting of about liity 
men, and a band of Indians of about one hundred and seventy-five, under 
Bear Hunter, Lehi, and Sagwitch. Of the above number seventy-live 
might have been squaws and papooses ; the lighting number was about one 
hundred. 

They were encamped by a stream running through a deep ravine and 
emptying into Bear Uiver, eleven miles north-east of Franklin. The Indians 
were fully aware of the intention of General Connor to chastise them ; the 
time of his leaving Salt Lake City; the number - of troops in his command; 
their every movement up to the time of their appearance on the battle-field. 
So confident were the Indians of victory, that they did not even consider it 
necessary to remove their families to places of safety, as is customary with 
them in their warfare. Illustrative of this fact, as the infantry came in at 
the south-east corner of our fort (at that time Franklin consisted of four equal 
sides, forming a square, with openings at each corner) Bear Hunter went out 
at the north-east corner ; some one remarked, as he was going out, that the 
soldier's would use him up; he very signilicantly replied : "Maybe so." 

The day on which the battle was fought was one of the coldest incident 
to the hard winters in this high northern latitude. 

The infantry and baggage wagons filed into Franklin on the afternoon 
preceding the battle. The cavalry came up in the night, and were on the 
battle-Meld early in the morning. Major MeOarry led the charge. The 
Indians, under cover of the banks of the ravine, placed the troops at great 
disadvantage. As the volunteers advanced the Indians opened lire, killing 
fourteen volunteers and wounding six or eight more. General Connor, find- 
ing the Indians unassailable from that point, hastily ordered a Hank move- 
ment, and charging from the head of the ravine, drove the Indians precipi- 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 15 

tatoly before them, ending in an indiscriminate slaughter, few escaping; 
Borne jumped into Bear River and were drowned. Sagwitch — incredible as it 
may seem — though severely wounded, floated down Bear River under the ice, 
made for the shore, and traveled some fifteen or twenty miles to Pocotello's 
camp in Malado Valley. Although badly frozen he lived, but was a eon- 
firmed cripple. 

The number of Indians generally supposed to have lost their lives in the 
battle was one hundred and sixty-five. This ended the career of perhaps 
the worst Indians that ever infested this Western country. 

Immediately after the battle thedeadand those of the wounded who were un- 
able to rideon horseback, belonging to General Connor's command, were brought 
inU) Franklin in wagons. Someof the wounded were taken to theschool-housc, 
Others to private houses, receiving such kind care and attention as our scanty 
means afforded. On the following day the wounded were taken on sleds to 
Salt Lake City, some of whom died on the way ; and although the campaign 
Was short and decisive, there were few of the command that were not more 
or less disabled from wounds received in battle or from frost-bite or exposure. 
It would be useless and unprofitable to give an accurate account of every 
Indian engagement in Idaho. This chapter, however, would be incomplete 
without some reference to the Nez Perce war of 1S77. 

"The Nez Perce Indians," says A. F. Parker, "are one of the greatest 
nations of tho Pacific Coast, and in intelligence, industry, loyalty to the 
whites, and for conforming to the methods of civilization they have demon- 
strated themselves to be the most enlightened tribe on the continent. The 
nation has been divided into two distinct tribes, known as Treaty and Non- 
treaty Indians. The Treaty Indians originally secured possession of their 
reservation by treaty of June 1 1, 1S55. A new treaty was made June 0, 1SG3, 
reducing the area of the reservation, and upon the expiration of that treaty a 
new one was made August 13, 1SGS, which has expired, but still continues in 
force. 

*' Tho Reservation or Treaty Indians have ever been fast friends to the 
whites, and have proved their loyalty in the series of wars through which the 
country has passed in its march to civilization. The most notable instances 
of their friendship were displayed in the ill-fated Steptoe expedition, when 
they saved the command from massacre, and in offering shelter to the whites 
who fled to Lapwai after the Whitman massacre on the Walla Walla River. 

"The Non-treaties resided in the Wallowa Valley in Oregon. They had 
never accepted government bounty, and refused to live on the reservation, 
although close relations were always maintained between the two tribes. 

" In JS77, after a series of collisions with white settlers, the order came 
from Washington to eject the Non-treaties from the Wallowa, and to place 
them on the reservation in Idaho. Councils were held at Lapwai to apportion 
lands to the various chiefs of the Non-treaties, and it was thought that all 
arrangements for their peaceable transfer to the reservation had been made, 
when they startled the country by a series of murders and atrocities upon soli- 
tary settlers, which inaugurated tho Nez Perce war of 1S77. The settlements 
on Camas Prairie and Salmon River were raided, and Indian vengeance, sum- 
mary and swift, was visited upon the heads of the innocent and unarmed 
settlers and their families. Neither age nor sex was spared in this merciless 
crusade." 

Joseph, chief of the Non-treaty Nez Percds, and his band are now safe in 
Indian Territory. Lieut. C. E. S. Woods, who was a participant in the war, 
writes that he has been informed by an Indian that Joseph wished to sur- 
render rather than leave the country or bring further misery on his people, 
but that in council he was overruled by the older chiefs, Ap-push-na-hite 
(Looking-glass), White Bird, and Too-hul-hul-suit ; and Joseph would not 
desert tho common cause. According to this informant Joseph's last appeal 
Was to call a council in the dale, and passionately condemn the proposed 
retreat from Idaho. " What are we fighting for?" he asked ; " is it for our 
lives? No 1 It is for this land where the bones of our fathers are buried. 
I do not want to take my women among strangers ; I do not want to die in a 
strange land. Some of you tried to say once that I was afraid of the whites. 
Stay here with me now and you shall have plenty of fighting. We will put 



16 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

our women behind ua in these mountains, and die on our land fighting for 
them. I would rather do that than run I know not where." But the retreat 
being decided on, he led his caravan, two thousand horses and more, women, 
children, old men and old women, the wounded, palsied, and blind, by a seem- 
ingly impassable trail, interlaced with fallen trees, through the ruggedest 
mountains to the Bitter Root Valley, where (a fact unprecedented in Indian 
warfare) he made a treaty of forbearance with the inhabitants, passing by 
settlements containing banks and stores, and near farms rich with stock, but 
taking nothing and hurting no one. So he pushed on ; he crossed the Rocky 
Mountains twice, the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, and was within one 
day's march of Canada when he was taken. 

A writer in the Nez Perce News, of Lewiston, thus sums up the whole 
affair : 

" We are not a hard-hearted people in northern Idaho, but we have rights 
which not even the United States government can infringe with impunity, and 
when these rights are trodden upon we are bound to kick. In 1877 northern 
Idaho experienced the horrors of an Indian war. This war was not sought by 
our people. In this instance ninety soldiers were required to transport 300 
Indians — who had never accepted government bounty — upon an Indian reser- 
vation maintained at government expense. * * * * 

"The experiment was not a success. The fair fertile fields of northern 
Idaho were the scenes of savage warfare, and were baptized in blood. Our 
best citizens found their homes laid low by the desolating torch ; their wives, 
mothers, sisters, daughters, murdered in the malignant ferocity of savage 
wrath; women and children outraged while living and mutilated when dead ; 
defenseless friends slain by treachery ; kinsmen killed in bloody battle ; the 
fruit of years of industry wantonly destroyed in barbarous glee ; what prov- 
ender the Indians left taken sometimes by force, to subsist the pursuing troops ; 
citizen volunteers abandoning property, risking life, enduring hunger and 
thirst and deprivation, everywhere to the front, harassing the enemy in flank 
and rear, and engaging him in open fight in full sight of apathetic troops wear- 
ing United States livery, but indifferent to the result of the bloody conflict 
waging under their eyes — rapine, murder, carnage, stalking hand in hand with 
fierce and strategic f oemen through the land, leaving in their wake a broad trail 
of desolation whose scars can be seen upon the face of the country to this day. 
All these dreadful scenes and many more were participated in by the people of 
northern Idaho without hope or promise of reward. 

■ ' The Indians were removed to the Indian Territory, where they have 
since been maintained in luxury and idleness at the expense of the government. 
After their removal our citizens devoted themselves once more to the peaceful 
pursuits of industry and agriculture. Six years of practical effort and fair 
industry have rebuilt the places laid waste by war, and made the face of the 
country more beautiful and productive than ever. The scars of war have been 
covered by the fruits of peace, until Camas Prairie is now the garden spot of 
the territory." 

The Bannock Indians, originally comprising a very numerous tribe of 
widely scattered bands or families, claimed and roamed over the extensive 
region traversed by the upper and central sections of Snake River and its 
tributaries. These Indians had subsisted from time immemorial by the 
peaceful pursuits of hunting, fishing, and root-digging ; though they managed 
to make their presence felt by their skill in the art of stealing and in occa- 
sional attacks upon helpless immigrant trains. With the discovery of gold 
in the mountain region drained by the Boise 1 River and its tributaries came a 
heterogeneous crowd of gold-hunters, whose advent was soon followed by fre- 
quent collisions with the Indians, resulting from the innate propensity of the 
red man to seize and appropriate horses and other property which chanced to 
be left in his way unguarded. The first attempts at permanent settle- 
ment by the whites made it necessary for the General Government to 
interfere between the whites and Indians, when the Bannocks with their 
tribes were subjected to the time-honored but much-criticised govern- 
mental policy of being collected upon reservations and placed under the 
care of Indian agents. The section of country set apart for the Ban- 
nocks is known as the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. Using this nom- 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 17 

inal home as a rendezvous upon which to meet and receive annuities 
and to consume government rations while they lasted, the Bannocks 
passed the greater part of each year in roaming over the Snake River plains 
and among the towns and settlements in the Boise" and other valleys. Among 
the favorite summer resorts of the Bannocks was the section now forming a 
part of Alturas County, known by the somewhat general appellation of "Ca- 
mas Prairie." Here during several weeks of the summer months those 
Indians would meet and pitch their tepees or lodges, and while the men 
searched the mountains in quest of game the women would engage in digging 
the nutritious bulb which formed the root of the camas plant which grew in 
unlimited abundance on the damper portions of the prairie. Up to the sum- 
mer of 1878 these Indians and the few whites who occupied the prairie and 
neighboring plains as a summer range for their stock got along without any 
serious collisions, though the Indians were known to be somewhat restive 
under this "joint occupancy," claiming that the prairie was a portion of their 
ancient domain which they had never ceded to the government by treaty, and 
that the presence of the whites with their herds of cattle and swine was fast 
destroying the camas plant, whose yield of roots formed an important and 
essential item among their limited sources of subsistence. 

During the Nez Perce" war of the preceding year, 1877, the Bannocks 
gave what was then considered a substantial proof of friendship for the 
whites by furnishing a company of active young warriors to act as 
couriers, guides, and scouts to the whites in the field in pursuit of 
Chief Joseph and his band of hostile Nez Percys, who were then making 
their way out of northern Idaho and across Montana. The leader of 
these Bannock scouts was a somewhat noted young warrior, known 
as Buffalo Horn, who had served in the same capacity under Generals Custer 
and Miles and other distinguished officers of the United States Army, in 
campaigns against the Sioux and other hostile tribes in Montana. After the 
surrender of Joseph at Bear's Paw Mountain, near the British line, late in the 
autumn of 1877, Buffalo Horn and his company of scouts returned to the Fort 
Hall reservation, where they passed the winter. The month of June, 1878, found 
the Bannock Indians in considerable force camped at their old haunts in Camas 
Prairie, while Buffalo Horn and a few of his braves were passing the time 
in Boise" City, making frequent visits to the officers and troops at Boise" Bar- 
racks. The young chief seemed excessively proud of the record he had made 
in the army, and no one suspected his want of friendship and loyalty to the 
whites. At length he disappeared from the neighborhood of Boise" City, and 
very soon there came rumors of threatened trouble between the whites and 
Indians on Camas Prairie, the Indians becoming daily more haughty and in- 
solent, claiming the whole prairie and insisting that the whites should leave it. 

About the 31st of May two white men arrived at Boise City on foaming 
steeds, reporting that the Bannocks had become openly hostile, that they were 
strongly encamped to the number of several hundred in a natural fortress of 
lava rocks, near the prairie, from whence a party had issued on the preceding 
day and made a murderous assault on two white men who were peaceably 
herding their cattle in the prairie. It was thought that these white men 
would die of the wounds received, and that the Indians would soon begin 
their depredations upon the neighboring settlements. The news caused in- 
tense excitement in Boise" City, and within an hour's time Col. R. F. Bernard, 
in command of troop G of the 1st Cavalry, was on the way with his command 
to the scene of the trouble. Major Patrick Collins, then commanding Fort 
Bois6, promptly telegraphed General H@ward at Fort Vancouver, and the 
latter hastened preparations to meet the threatened danger. 

It soon became known that the Bannocks, under the promptings and 
counsel of Buffalo Horn, had been receiving emissaries from other tribes, nota- 
bly the Piutes on the south, and the Umati lias and other tribes near and along 
the Columbia River, with a view to a general uprising. The situation as- 
sumed a formidable and dangerous aspect, and seemed fully to warrant the 
very serious apprehensions that were entertained. In the mean time the Ind- 
ians, learning of the approach of the cavalry, called a hasty council, and 
while Buffalo Horn urged "war undisguised, relentless war," against the 
whites as the only course left open to them, the greater number of the Indians 



18 KESOUKCES OF IDAHO. 

present chose discretion as the better part of valor, and began to beat a 
retreat toward the reservation. Buffalo Horn, at the head of about 
eighty warriors, decided to take the war-path, but disdaining to await the 
arrival of the troops, tied across the Snake Biver plains, crossed the river at 
Glenn's Ferry, and proceeded toward Silver City, in Owyhee County, destroy- 
ing property and killing several white men who chanced to fall in their way. 

On arriving at the lava-beds Colonel Bernard found them deserted, and 
soon after learning the course of the hostiles, hastened by forced marches 
diagonally across the plain, with a hope of intercepting the Indians in their 
progress through the country. The Indians, however, were in no humor to be 
overtaken. They tied rapidly across the Bruneau Valley, and gaining the 
mountains south of Silver City, met there a check at the hands of a company 
of citizens, who had been warned of their approach. The skirmish which 
took place in the Silver City Mountains, though it resulted in the defeat of 
the citizens and the death of a few of their number, was not without impor- 
tant fruit, as it took from the Indians their able and desperate leader, Buffalo 
Horn, who was found anions the slain. Following this encounter, the In- 
dians passed into eastern Oregon, and traversing the Stein Mountain country, 
the home of the Piutes, gathered a few allies as they went, and then hastened 
to the Malheur Reservation, where they were further re-enforced by the I'iutea 
of the reservation. Bernard was in hot pursuit, and with the acquisition of 
three other companies pressed forward, overtaking the Indians on Silver 
Creek, where they had gathered in largely increased numbers. The evident 
plan of the Indians was to gain the Columbia River, where they had ar- 
ranged to be joined by the Umatillas and other tribes on either side of the 
great river, when they intended to sweep backwards upon their track, carry- 
ing death ami desolation in their path through eastern Oregon and Idaho. 
The plan failed through the extensive preparations that had been promptly 
made to meet them, and by the failure of the Umatillas and other tribes to 
take part in the insane undertaking. From the Umatilla Reservation, where 
their last open fight was made, the Bannocks, in the vain hope that the Uma- 
tillas, who were idle though deeply interested spectators of the battle, would 
be excited by their prowess to join them, the Bannock Indian war of 1S78 
soon degenerated into a disorderly retreat of demoralized and scattered bands 
of Indians, whose only remaining purpose was to regain by different routes 
the reservations from which they had set forth in the spring. In this they 
succeeded, after causing much trouble and loss to the settlers on their route 
of march, and entailing a heavy expense upon the government. Considering 
the large number of Indians engaged in these raids, and the scattered and 
helpless condition of the settlers, the number of deaths and casualties of all 
kinds was not very great. Perhaps 100 white persons in all met death at the 
hands of these fiends. 

Lemhi County continued to be troubled more or less by Indians until 1S78. 
The litest massacre in that section was that of Cwe teamsters at Birch Creek. 
The Indians, after first getting drunk, fired the train and killed the men. In 
the autumn of 1S78 another freighting outfit, under the charge of Jesse 
MeCaleb, was attacked on Lost River while on the way to Challis. A skir- 
mish ensued, resulting in the death of Mr. MeCaleb. The loss by the Indians 
has never been ascertained. Mr. MeCaleb was a leading business man of the 
Territory, a partner of Colonel George L. Shoup, and had made an honorable 
record in the Territorial legislature. 

During the Bannock war, about thirty of the Sheep Eater and Miser In- 
dians escaped from the troops and secreted themselves among the Salmon 
River Mountains, from whence they raided remote and unprotected settle- 
ments, murdering several citizens in the spring of 1S70. They were captured 
by General Howard latointhe fall ami taken to Fort Vancouver. 

This brief and imperfect summary of Indian troubles is given in order to 
explain one of the causes which, tip to within a few years, retarded the devel- 
opment of Idaho, and prevented her limitless resources from receiving the 
recognition from the outside world to which they were entitled. 

The last Indian wars in Idaho are over. The remnants of the tribes have 
been cither "converted" to the happy hunting grounds or removed to places 
of safety on the reservations. The construction of railroads offering ipaick 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 19 

End ready transportation of troops in case of emergency — but more especially 
the extensive immigration during the past live years — precludes the possibility 
of any Indian wars in the future. Idaho to-day is as safe from apprehen- 
sion of Indian trouble as any Eastern State. 

(^DEVELOPMENT. 

The first mining excitement which resulted in permanent settlement was 
the Oro Fino stampede of 1SG1 and 18G2. One of the results was the found- 
ing of the town of Lewiston, at the junction of the Snake and Clearwater 
Rivers, which soon became a distributing point for the mines for hundreds of 
miles. From Oro Fino and Pierce City parties prospected in all directions, 
and Warrens and Florence were soon after discovered. Passing southward, 
Boise Basin was discovered in 1SG3, and the Owyhee country soon alter. From 
that date the settlement of southern Idaho may be said to have fairly begun. 
The discovery of gold and settlement of Boise Valley led to the removal of 
the capital from Lewiston to Boise City on the 24th day of December, ISG4. 

The Lcesburg and Lemhi sections were opened up in 1SG7, when eastern* 
Idaho began to be thoroughly explored, resulting finally in the discovery of 
the great Wood River galena belt. A more detailed description of the min- 
eral development of Idaho will be found in the chapter on mining. 

While the mineral rosources of the Territory have been thus developing 
for the past score of years, the farmers, stock-growers, and lumbermen have 
been contributing to the growth and permanent settlement of the coun- 
try. Since 1S70 the Territory has increased fourfold in population. From a 
scattered population of less than 15,000 in that year, it increased, to more than 
double that number in 18S0, and has again more than doubled within the past 
four years. 

There are at the present writing about 820 miles of railroad in Idaho, as 
follows : 

Utah & Northern, Franklin to Monida 20S miles. 

Oregon Short Line, Main Line, border to Burnt River 452 " 

" Wood River Branch 70 " 

Northern Pacific 90 " 

Total , 820 " 

The Utah and Northern skirts the eastern portion of the Territory, with 
Ogden, Utah, and Garrison, Montana, where it joins the Northern Pacilic, as 
its terminal points. It is a narrow-gauge road, 454 miles in length. It enters 
Idaho at Franklin, near the upper end of Cache Valley, running through 
Oneida County for over 200 miles. At Pocatello it forms a junction with the 
Oregon Short Line, passing through Fort Hall Indian Reservation and a part 
of Snake River Valley; thence across sage-brush plains capable some day of a 
high degree of cultivation, until it begins the ascent of the Rocky Mountain 
range, leaving the Territory at Monida, which derives its name from the first 
three letters of the two Territories upon whose dividing line it is situated. This 
line has an immense traffic, not only with Montana, but with eastern and cen- 
tral Idaho. Its immense business makes it without doubt the most important 
narraw-gauge road in the world. It connects with stage lines in Idaho as 
follows: At Oxford for Clifton and Weston; at McCammou for Malad; at 
Blackfoot for Challis, Bonanza, and the Salmon River mines; and at Beaver 
Canon for Yellowstone Park, at Red Rock, Montana, for Salmon City and 
Lemhi Valley. 

The Oregon Short Line, standard gauge, is a branch of the Union Pacific, 
leaving the main line at Granger, Wyoming, passing through the southern 
and central portions of Idaho, including Bear Lake, Oneida, Alturas, Ada, and 
Washington counties. The distance from Granger to Huntington, Oregon, 
near the mouth of Burnt River, its western terminus, is 5*57 miles. After 
entering Idaho from the east it traverses the Bear River and Bear Lake Valley, 
in which are situated some of the finest farming lands in the west; thence 
through the town of Soda Springs, already a famous resort for westerners (see 



20 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

article on Oneida County), along Bear and Port Neuf Rivers for seventy miles. 
The scenery in the Port Neuf Canon is much admired for its beauty. Leaving 
the Utah and Northern at Pocatello, it continues in a north-westerly course, 
crossing Snake River at American Falls, and for a number of miles passing 
over great lava-beds, until it reaches the town of Shoshone, where the Wood 
River Branch leaves it for Ketchum, seventy miles to the north. Continuing 
its course northwestward, at Kuna it connects with stage lines for Boise 1 City, fif- 
teen miles north; after crossing Boise" River at Caldwell, it enters Washington 
County near Weiser, and after crossing the Snake a fourth time, it effects a 
junction with the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company's line at Hunt- 
ington. 

On the first of December, 1884, a through line was established by this 
road, connecting Omaha and Portland. It is claimed that this is the shortest 
route from the east to Puget Sound. The distance from Chicago to Portland 
by this line is about 2,200 miles; to Puget Sound 2,350 miles, being from 150 
to 200 miles shorter than any other route. Vast areas of wheat, timber, and 
mineral land are thus rendered easily accessible, and a new empire opened up 
for thousands of home- seekers. 

" The possibilities of the Oregon Short Line, " says the Portland Oregonian, 
" are not to be exaggerated even at this early day. In the long-neglected 
Territory of Idaho its line is over two hundred miles southward parallel to 
the Northern Pacific; and for 160 miles of that distance, say from Weiser to 
the Malade or Wood River, it runs through one continuous belt of fruit-grow- 
ing country, which is 445 miles nearer to Chicago than the fruit-producing 
counties of California. It surpasses California in peaches, nectarines, and 
pears, equals her in plums and apricots, and falls below her only in grapes 
and figs. The difference in distance will enable some shrewd man to lay down 
Idaho fruit in Chicago one day fresher than California fruit can be possibly 
placed there. It gives Oregon flour the ' top hand ' in the mines of southern 
Idaho and northern Utah. The Short Line recrosses the Snake just above the 
mouth of the Weiser, and runs again through Baker County, Oregon, for a dis- 
tance of about fifty miles, through a region fairly productive in grain and 
abounding in fruits of the greatest abundance and highest flavor. Just below 
old Fort Boise* it again crosses Snake River at a little town called St. Paul, 
and continues through Idaho until it reaches the Utah frontier. On the Port 
Neuf River, not far from Pocatello, it crosses that crooked stream not less 
than nine times in six miles, for the sake of a short and straight line with low 
grades. Then look how it reduces the expense of mining low-grade ores, by 
giving cheaper transportation to the furnaces located in densely timbered sec- 
tions. Its locomotives burn coal brought all the way from Evanston, in 
Wyoming Territory, while those of the O. R. & N. burn coal brought from 
Tacoma by rail. " 

The Northern Pacific crosses Kootenai County in what is known as the 
" Pan-Handle " of Idaho. The northernmost point of the road is reached at 
Lake Pend d'Oreille, where the road crosses a trestle bridge 8,400 feet in 
length. This road, besides furnishing an outlet for the apparently inexhaust- 
ible timber of north Idaho, passes through some of the most superb lake and 
mountain scenery in the Territory. Thompson's Falls, Belknap, Trout Creek, 
Rathdrum, and Spokane Falls, all stations on this road, are distributing points 
for the Coeur d'Alene mining region. The Northern Pacific has nearly 2,000,- 
000 acres of land in northern Idaho. 

The Boise City branch of the Oregon Short Line from Caldwell has been 
begun and is expected to be completed in the spring of 1SS5. The road-bed 
for the branch of the Northern Pacific from Colfax to Moscow in Nez Perc6 
County has been graded and is ready for the rails. Other roads or branches 
are in contemplation, such as a branch of the Central Pacific from Kelton to 
Wood River; of the Utah and Northern from Camas to Birch Creek, and of 
the Oregon Short Line down Snake River. 

A little over six years ago there was not a mile of railroad in Idaho. 
The development of the Territory since that period has been immense. Immi- 
gration has been stimulated, new and unexplored sections have been opened 
up to the world, and the limitless resources of Idaho are rapidly becoming 
known. While it is possible that individual communities may have suffered 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 



21 



from the temporary derangement of affairs caused by the advent of railroads, 
the Territory at large has been the gainer. New towns are constantly spring- 
ing up, new enterprises are being fostered, new roads built ; outside capital is 
seeking investment within her borders, and stretches of what a few years ago 
seemed a barren desert are now being made to bloom with the happy homes 
of a thrifty people. 

As an indication of the material growth of the Territory, I subjoin a table 
showing the assessed valuation taken from the official assessment rolls for the 
past seven years : 



1878 $4,520,800.50 

1879 5,926, 149.00 

1880 6,408,089. 14 

1881 8,066,365.75 



1882 $ 9,339,071.05 

1883 13,938,412.31 

1884 .....15,497,598.34 



The figures given for 1884 include only what is known as the " original 
assessment rolls " for this year, and will doubtless be considerably increased 
by the "subsequent assessment rolls" to be reported in January. The as- 
sessed valuation is probably much less than a half of the actual valuation, and 
does not include unpatented mining property, or the proceeds of the mines, 
which are not taxed. 

The following table shows the census returns of the population by coun- 
ties for 1880. The figures for 1884 are estimated from such data as are accessi- 
ble in the shape of poll-tax payers, property tax payers, popular vote, and 
school population, besides returns from the official assessment rolls. 



'Population. 


Assessment Roll. 


Counties. 


1880. 


1884. 


1880. 


1SS4. 


Ada 


4,674 
1.693 
3,237 
3,213 
1,315 


8,500 
13,000 
3,500 
3,000 
3,500 
2,000 
3,000 
1,500 
2,000 
8,000 
12,000 
1,500 
2,500 
3,000 


$1,325,152 00 
371,591 00 
148,479 00 
713,527 00 

304,388 00 


$2,409,914 00 

3,015,336 61 

449,597 00 

635,000 00 

602,996 00 


Alturas 


Bear Lake 


Bois6 


Cassia 


Custer* 


640,598 00 
636,425 00 
544,138 98 
518,730 00 


Idaho 


2,031 

318 
2,230 
3,965 
6,972 
1,467 
467 
877 


532,908 00 


KootenaiT 


Lemhi 


500,000 00 
864,737 00 
878,722 00 
542,896 00 
45,646 00 
180,043 00 


Nez Perce" 


2.050.546 00 


Oneida 


2,380,862 00 
871,921 00 
113,555 00 

627,978 75 


Owyhee 


Shoshone 


Washington 






Total 


32,611 


67,000 


$6,408,089 00 


$15,497,598 34 







* Organized out of Lemhi County in 1882. 



t Organized 1882. 



Within the past four years the territorial tax has been reduced from 75 
cents to 25 cents on the $100, and will probably be reduced still further dur- 
ing the coming winter. The only indebtedness is $69,000 worth of outstand- 
ing bonds, $22,000 of which matures in December, 1885, and the balance in 
December, 1891, In January, 1885, there will be over $80,000 in the territorial 
treasury, so that the Territory is practically out of debt. As the question of 
taxation is one of direct personal interest to every citizen, the above showing 
is worthy of consideration. 



23 EESOUKCES OF IDAHO. 



CHAPTER II. — DESCRIPTIVE. 



There are in Idaho over 55,000,000 acres, classified as follows : 12,000.000 
acres capable of" cultivation ; 25,000,000 acres of pasture and grazing lands; 
the remainder being forest, mountainous, or mineral. The average elevation 
is about 4,700 feet, being from 2,000 to 8,000 feet less than that of Wyoming, 
Utah, Nevada, or Colorado. The highest peaks range from ( J,000 to 18,000 feet 
in height. The lowest altitude is at Lewiston, where the Clearwater joins 
the Snake at an elevation of GS0 feet. 

MOUNTAINS. 

Professor F. V. TTayden, in his "Geological Survey of the Territories,'* 
in referring to the surface ot a large portion of Idaho, describes it as literally 
crumpled or 'rolled up in one continuous series of mountain ranges, fold after 
fold. Perhaps even better examples of these remarkable folds may be found 
in the country drained by Salmon Kiver and its branches, where lofty ranges 
of mountains, for the most part covered with limestones and iiuartzites of the 
carboniferous age, wall in all the little streams. None of our published maps 
convey any idea of the almost innumerable ranges. We might say that from 
longitude 1 10° to 1 18°, a distance of over five hundred miles, there is a range 
of mountains, on an average, every ten to twenty miles. Sometimes the dis- 
tance across the range in a straight line, from the bed of a stream in one val- 
ley to the bed of the stream in the valley beyond the range, is not more than 
five to eight miles, while it is seldom more than twenty miles. " Prom these 
statements," says the Professor, "which we believe to be correct, the reader 
may form some conception of the va.st amount of labor yet 1o be performed to 
explore, analyze, and locate on a suitable scale these hundreds of ranges of 
mountains, each one of which is worthy of a name." 

Though the foregoing may be somewhat exaggerated, Idaho is in reality 
a mountain territory. It is from the interior of her mountains that her chief 
source of her wealth is derived. It is her mountain sides that afford the 
nutritious grasses that sustain hundreds of thousands of her cattle, and it is 
her intermountain vales that furnish the soil of her farms and ranches. 

In the north are the Cceur d'Alene and Bitter Root Mountains, a portion 
of the latter range, together with the crest of the Rocky Mountains, forming 
the dividing line between Idaho and Montana. Spurs from the main range of 
the Rockies ramify into all sections of the Territory. The Sawtooth, Salmon 
River, Wood Kiver, Boise, and other ranges are the scenes of active mining 
operations in central Idaho; while the Wahsatch and Owyhee Mountains are 
among the more important in the south-eastern and south-western portions* 
respectively^. 

RIVERS. 

With the exception of a comparatively small portion of south-eastern 
Idaho, whose waters flow into the basin of Great Salt Lake, the river system 
of Idaho is entirely tributary to the valley of the great Columbia River. 
There are three important rivers in Idaho which empty directly into the 
Columbia, namely, the Spokane, Clarke's Fork, and the Snake. 

The first named is the outlet of Lake Cceur d'Alene, and flows through a 
portion of Kootenai County, near the Washington line. 

Clarke's Fork, also in north Idaho, is fed by a number of streams, emp- 
ties into Pend d 'Oreille Lake, and under the name of Pend d'Oreille River 
pours its waters into the Columbia. 

The sources of the Snake River are in the Rocky Mountains in north- 
western Wyoming, near the head waters of the Yellowstone and Madison 
rivers, at an elevation of 8,000 feet. The main feeder flows north-west to the 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 2$ 

junction of Lewis Fork, the outlet of Shoshone and Lewis lakes ; thence 
sou tli through Jackson Lake, and again north-west to the junction of Henry's 
Fork. From this point it describes a curve of more than 350 miles through 
southern Idaho, [lowing south-west and then north-west, and -strikes the Oregon 
line in about latitude44° 40'. Thence it (lows northerly between Idaho on the 
east and Oregon and Washington on the west for about 200 miles, when it 
takes a sharp turn to the west again for about 150 miles through Washington 
to where it joins the Columbia. Its total length is nearly 1,000 miles. At 
present it is not navigated above Lewiston. 

The Snake Hi vex, deriving its volume from the melting of the mountain 
snows, is said to be a direct gauge of the annual advance of the sun. In June 
and July it is a tremendous torrent, carrying a full half of the Columbia. 
From the middle of July it constantly shrinks, reaching its minimum in mid- 
winter. At the lowest, it is a river equal to the Sacramento or Connecticut. 
An enthusiastic writer thus describes its course : "Springing from perpetual 
snows amidst the dizzy heights and towering summits of the Rooky Mountains, 
the Snake follows a tortuous course to the Columbia, nearly a thousand miles, 
through regions so vast in extent, so varied in character, and so notable in 
appearance as to admit of no parallel in the cosmography of our possessions. 
Draining the waters of the most extensive area of grazing, agricultural, and 
mineral lands on the Pacific blope, it embraces in its sources, which are legion, 
portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Utah, absorbs the rivers of Idaho, and 
finds allJuents that rise in the pine forests of Oregon's Hlue Mountains. 
Grouped in silent majesty, grand cloud-piercing peaks watch its departure 
westward. Dazzling ice-bound pinnacles mark its way. Now dashing over 
precipices, rolling through the gloom of dense forests, now skirting the rugged 
mountains of the wild Teton range, gathering strength as it runs ; now coursing 
by grass clad hills or through cheerless tracts where burning lava once flowed, 
making tremendous jumps, rushing headlong and foaming through deep, dark, 
narrow canons with upright walls a thousand feet high, winding in its course — ■ 
the mad stream hurls its waters two hundred feet into the air in one mighty, 
despairing, awful leap over the Shoshone Falls." 

Some of the streams, of which liig and Little Lost Rivers are notable 
examples, apparently sink into the sage-brush plains, but in reality doubtless 
have subterranean outlets underneath the lava into the Snake or some of its 
tributaries. 

A bird's-eye view of the territory would represent a vast, wedge-shaped 
plateau, rising from an elevation less than 700 feet in the extreme west, to over 
10,000 feet in the extreme east. Over this rugged surface countless streams 
are flowing as tributaries to one of the three rivers named. In its long serpen- 
tine course through the Territory, the Snake absorbs the waters of such streams 
as the Clearwater, Salmon, Payette, I'oise, Owyhee, Bruneau, Wood, and 
other streams. Of these the largest is the Salmon, which, rising in the Saw- 
tooth range, after a long circuitous course, receiving numberless tributaries, 
ami forcing the very mountains asunder, finally empties into the Snake not 
many miles above Lewiston. The immense water power of Idaho is one of its 
great resources, affording as it does ample facilities fof irrigating, mining, and 
manufacturing purposes 

VALLEYS. 

There are within the Territory 13,200 square miles of valley lands situ- 
ated at an elevation less than 3,000 feet, 10,000 square miles between 3,000 and 
4,000 feet, 22,000 square miles between 4,000 and 5,000 feet, and 19,200 square 
miles between 5,000 and (5,000 feet. 

We are indebted to Robert E. Strahorn, Esq., for the following list of the 
most prominent of the valleys of Idaho : 

Name and Location of Valley. Length. Breadth. 

South Fork of Snake River, Eastern Idaho 30 miles 2 to 4 miles 

Salt River Valley, Kastern Idaho 20 M 1 to 2 •« 

Bear River Valley, Eastern Idaho 40 " 3 to 5 '* 

Snake Valley, North Fork, Eastern Idaho 00 '« 2 to 10 " 

Blackf oot Valley, Eastern Idaho 20 " 2 to 5 " 



24 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

Name and Location of Valley. Length. Breadth. 

Round Valley, Eastern Idaho 30 miles 8 to 12 miles 

Wood River Valley, Central Idaho. 50 " 1 to 2 " 

Camas Prairie, Central Idaho 80 " 18 to 25 " 

Boise Valley, Western Idaho 60 " 2 to 6 " 

Payette Valley, Western Idaho 75 " 2 to 15 " 

Weiser Valley, Western Idaho 40 " 2 to 5 " 

Lemhi Valley, North-eastern Idaho 70 " 3 to 6 " 

Pah-Simari Valley, North-eastern Idaho 25 " 1 to 5 " 

Northern Camas Prairie, North Idaho 30 " 20 to 25 " 

Potlach Valley, North Idaho 25 " 10 to 15 " 

Palouse Valley, North Idaho 20 " 5 to 10 " 

St. Joseph Valley, North Idaho ....15 4< 5 to 10 " 

The valleys mentioned above are not all that are suitable for settlement. 
I could name over a score or more in addition, where the opportunities are 
fully as advantageous as in these. Beautiful little vales, cozy parks hidden 
among the hills — these are innumerable ; while sheep ranches, cattle ranges, 
dairy farms, poultry ranches, and apiaries could be established in a thousand 
localities, and will be as soon as the advantages that await the settlers in Idaho 
are more fully known. 

In the northern part of the Territory there are over a million acres of land 
open to settlement under the homestead and pre-emption laws, all of which 
have been surveyed. 

It will be observed that the Valleys generally are narrow. The soil is 
rich, however, and the flat bottom-lands or undulating plateaus are capable 
of producing abundantly. Probably not one twentieth part of the arable 
valley lands is occupied. 

What is kuown as the great Snake River Basin is a broad, nearly level 
plain, from seventy-five to one hundred miles in width and one hundred and 
fifty to two hundred miles in length, surrounded on all sides by mountain 
ranges. According to Professor Hayden, this basin follows the course of Snake 
River, and is really an expansion of the valley, and it at first extends from the 
north-east to the south-west, bends around west, and then continues north- 
westerly toward Boise City. The mountains on either side form a series of 
more or less lofty ranges, some of the more prominent summits rising to a 
height of 10,000 feet. These ranges appear to the eye, from any one point of 
view, to trend about north and south, but the trend of the aggregate ranges is 
plainly a little west of north and east of south. Between these ranges are 
valleys of greater or less breadth, varying from one to five miles in width, often- 
times of great beauty and fertility, through which wind some of the numer- 
ous branches which now into Snake River. The great basin is entirely covered 
with a bed of basalt of quite modern date, and this basalt has set to a greater 
or less distance up the valleys of all these streams. It extends up the Port 
Neuf Valley thirty or forty miles. The American Falls are formed by the 
descent of Snake River over the basalt. The Professor is of the belief that 
this vast basin has been worn out of the mountain ranges by erosion ; that the 
three buttes and other fragments of ranges scattered over the plains serve as 
monuments in proof of this statement. This basin was also the bed of a lake 
which probably originated during the Pliocene period. In the immediate 
vicinity of this basin no Tertiary beds of older date than the Pliocene have 
been discovered, and underneath the basaltic crust there is a considerable 
thickness of the deposit. The effusion of the basalt was one of the latest 
♦vents, and must have merged well on to our present period. 

CLIMATE. 

The superb climate of Idaho is one of its chief attractions. With its 
varying altitudes almost any desired temperature may be obtained. 

In the valleys snow rarely falls to any great depth, while on the other 
hand some of its peaks are crowned with eternal snow. 

Idaho is sufficiently near to the Pacific Ocean to be affected by its warm 
currents. ' ' By reference to any map whereon these ocean curren ts are set down, 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 25 

it will be seen that the great Japan current (Kuro Sivo) — that mighty stream 
of warm water — bears directly against the western shores of America. The 
temperature of the winds blowing over it is of course affected by its heat, and 
they carry their modifying influences inland to Idaho. Meeting the obstruc- 
tion of the great natural wall of the Bitter Root and Rocky Mountains, these 
' Chinook' winds are deflected along their western bases and pass southward 
beyond the limits of the Territory. It is not claimed for Idaho that its 
climate is as warm as that of the same latitude in Europe, but that it is not is 
due, not to its geographical location, but to its topography and surroundings. 
Over 400 miles in length from north to south, the Territory is crossed by 
numerous mountain ranges or spurs, many of whose peaks tower up beyond 
the line of perpetual congelation." 

Fort Lapwai, in latitude 46° 32', and at an altitude of 2,000 feet, has 
about the same average temperature as Nebraska, 400 miles farther south, and 
is warmer than Wisconsin or Michigan. Boise" City, in latitude 43° 37', at an 
elevation of 2,800 feet, has a mean temperature of about 51°; 12° below zero is 
exceptionally cold, and 105° above zero exceptionally warm. It should be 
borne in mind, however, that there is a difference in effect equal to about 20° 
between the temperature of a dry rarified atmosphere, like that of Idaho, and 
the moist, penetrating atmosphere of the Atlantic coast; that is, a tempera- 
ture of 105° in Idaho is not felt to any greater extent than that of 85° in New 
York; or 12° below zero in Idaho is not felt more perceptibly than 8° above 
zero on the Atlantic coast. Perhaps the best idea of the climate of the Terri- 
tory is given in the following extract taken from official sources: 

The influence of climate upon agriculture, stock-raising, or mere per- 
sonal comfort is sufficiently important, but its effect upon health is para- 
mount to every other consideration. According to the official report of the 
Surgeon-General of the United States army, the percentages of deaths from 
disease to each 1,000 soldiers in the different military districts of the Union 
are as follows, the result having been the average of four years :- 

Deaths each year 
Localities. from Disease. 

Atlantic coast, out of each 1,000 men 17.83 

Arizona, " " " " 12. ]1 

Pennsylvania and Michigan, " " 6.05 

New Mexico, out of each " " 7.77 

California,' " " " " 6.88 

Montana, '" " ■" " 5.62 

Dakota, " " " " 4.76 

Wyoming, "■ " " " 4.71 

Idaho, "■ " " " 4.66 

The Gulf States make a worse showing than the Atlantic States, and Idaho 
shows the smallest ratio of mortality of any locality in the Union. It will be 
noted that the troops of the United States army are subjected to exactly the 
same condition and surroundings and have the same habits everywhere more 
nearly than any other class of people. Their food, clothing, medical attend- 
ance, and places of abode are nearer identically the same wherever they go ; 
consequently comparing the ratio of mortality among them in these different 
regions enables us to obtain a more correct estimate of the actual healthful- 
ness of each region that could possibly be obtained in any other way. 

But the most striking illustration of the general healthfulness of Idaho is 
afforded by the mortality statistics taken in connection with the national cen- 
sus of 1870 (those of 1880 are not yet available). According to them the 
death-rate in Idaho was less than in any other State or Territory, as will be 
seen from the following table, giving the exact figures of the census. The 
percentage of deaths to population was, in — 



Idaho 0.33 

Alabama ] .08 

Arizona 2. 61 

Arkansas 1.26 

California 1.61 



Colorado ■ 0.94 

Connecticut 1 . 26 

Dakota 0.71 

Delaware 1 .25 

District of Columbia 1.53 



26 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 



Florida 1.21 

Georgia 1.15 

Illinois 1.33 

Indiana 1 . 03 

Iowa 0.81 

Kansas 1. 25 

Kentucky 1.09 

Louisiana 2.00 

Maine 1.23 

Maryland 1.24 

Massachusetts 1.77 

Michigan 0. 94 

Minnesota 0.80 

Mississippi 1.11 

Missouri 1 . 63 

Montana 0.90 

New Hampshire 1.35 

New Jersey 1.17 

New Mexico 1.28 



New York 1.58 

Nebraska 0.81 

Nevada 1.45 

North Carolina 0.98 

Ohio 1.11 

Oregon 0.09 

Pennsylvania 1.49 

Rhode Island 1.26 

South Carolina 1.05 

Tennessee 1.13 

Texas 1.37 

Utah 1.03 

Vermont 1.07 

Virginia 1.24 

Washington 0. 93 

West Virginia 0.91 

Wisconsin 0. 94 

Wyoming 0.81 



The average temperature of the four seasons may be summed up as fol- 
lows : 52° in the spring, 73° in the summer, 53° in the autumn, and 34° in the 
winter. One reason of an agreeable climate is the difference in the atmos- 
pheric moisture, which has a great influence upon comfort in hot weather. 
The air is so dry that the perspiration is carried away rapidly, leaving the 
body cool and refreshed. Sunstrokes and hydrophobia are unknown. Stock 
is seldom fed or sheltered, living through the winter on bunch-grass and 
white sage. Accoiding to the report of the U. S. Surveyor-General, the 
annual rain-fall south of the Snake River is about fifteen inches, increasing 
gradually north of that point. The summer is always dry, from June to Sep- 
tember, and often till October, insuring to the farmer a harvest, and thresh- 
ing season for securing his grain. Peach-trees thrive well and bear profusely, 
and corn is raised and matured as far north as Spokane Valley. 

Like all other portions of the Pacific Coast, a few hundred feet of in- 
creased altitude gives much lower temperature, so that people need only go 
a few miles during the warmest weather to enjoy the pure cold mountain air. 
In the valleys, however, the nights are sufficiently cool during the summer 
to insure refreshing sleep. 

With a climate to suit the most exacting taste, shown by official statis- 
tics to be the most healthful in the world, where epidemic and endemic dis- 
eases are almost unknown, whose dry and antiseptic qualities preclude many 
of the diseases incident to the most moist regions of the Eastern States, it is 
no wonder that the people of Idaho feel a pride in what has been so lavishly 
bestowed by nature. 

NATURAL SCENERY. 

The character of tlio country through which the railway traveler passes in 
southern *nd eastern Idaho is adapted to repel rather than attract. The vast 
stretches of lava fields and sage-brush plains become monotonous in the ex- 
treme; yet amid Idaho's placid lakes, rushing rivers, and rugged mountains, 
may be found many a romantic scene. Rocks piled mountain high, canons 
a thousand feet deep, through which streams rush and roar and foam, cata- 
racts leaping from rock to rock, tossing their spray aloft, somber forest 
scenes beneath towering trees, where foliage is so dense as to leave a twilight 
dimness at mid -day — these are some of the characteristics of the landscapes 
of picturesque Idaho. Chief among all, however, are the great Shoshone 
Falls of Snake River. 

"The three great falls of America," says Clarence King, "Niagara, 
Shoshone, and Yosemite, all happily bearing Indian names, are as charaeter- 
isticly different as possible. There seems little left for a cataract to express." 

The Shoshone Falls have been called the Niagara of the West. The title is 
not a fortunate one, as these falls have a scenery peculiarly their own. They 



EES0T7E.CES OF IDAHO. 27 

are higher than Niagara, though during most of the year there is less vol- 
ume of water. Probably the best description is that written by Mr. King 
himself, from which we make copious extracts without further apology. "A 
few miles in front the smooth surface of the plain was broken by a rugged zigzag 
line of black, which marked the further wall of the Snake Canyon. A dull, 
throbbing sound greeted us. Its pulsations were deep, and seemed to pro- 
ceed from the ground beneath our feet. Leaving the cavalry to bring up the 
wagon, my friend and I galloped on, and were quickly upon the edge of the 
cafion wall. 

"We looked down into a broad, circular excavation, three quarters of a 
mile in diameter, and nearly 700 feet deep. East and north, over the edges of 
the canon, we looked across miles and miles of the Snake Plain, far on to 
the blue boundary mountains. The wall of the gorge opposite us, like the 
cliff at our feet, sank in perpendicular bluffs, nearly to the level of the river, 
the broad excavation being covered by rough piles of black lava and rounded 
domes of trachyte rock. A horizon as level as the sea ; a circling wall, whose 
sharp edges were here and there battlemented in huge, fortress-like masses ; a 
broad river, smooth and unruffled, flowing quietly in the middle of the scene, 
and then plunging into a labyrinth of rocks, tumbling over a precipice 200 feet 
high, and moving westward in a still, deep current, to disappear behind a 
black promontory. 

" It is a strange, savage scene — a monotony of pale blue sky, olive and gray 
stretches of desert, frowning walls of jetty lava, deep beryl-green river stretches, 
reflecting here and there the intense solemnity of the cliffs, and in the center a 
dazzling sheet of foam. In the early morning light the shadows of the cliffs 
were cast over half the basin, defining themselves in sharp outline here and 
there on the river. Upon the foam of the cataract one point of the rock cast 
a cobalt-bine shadow. Where the river flowed around the Avestern promontory, 
it was wholly in shadow and of a deep sea-green. A scanty growth of conif- 
erous trees fringed the brink of the lower cliffs overhanging the river. Dead 
barrenness is the whole sentiment of the scene. The mere suggestion of trees 
clinging here and there along the walls serves rather to heighten than to relieve 
the forbidding gloom of the place. Nor does the flashing whiteness where the 
river tears itself among the rocky islands, or rolls in spray down the cliff, 
brighten the aspect. In contrast with its brilliancy the rocks seem darker and 
more wild. 

"The descent of 400 feet from our standpoint to the level of the river above 
the falls has to be made by a narrow winding path among rough ledges of lava. 
We were obliged to leave our wagon at the summit, and pack down the camp 
equipment and photographic apparatus upon carefully led mules. By mid-day 
we were comfortably camped on the margin of the left bank, just above the 
brink of the falls. My tent was pitched upon the edge cf the cliff directly 
overhanging the rapids. From my door I looked over the cataract, and when- 
ever the veil of mist was blown aside could see for a mile down the river. 

" The lower half of the canon is excavated in a gray porphyritic trachyte. 
It is over this material that the Snake falls. Above the brink the whole 
breadth of the river is broken by a dozen small trachyte islands, which the 
water has carved into fantastic forms : rounding some into low domes, sharp- 
ening others into mere pillars, and now and then wearing into deep caves. At 
the very brink of the fall a few twisted evergreens cling with their roots to the 
rock, and lean over the abyss of foam with something of that air of fatal fas- 
cination which is apt to take possession of men. Under the influence of the 
cool shadow of cliffs and pine, and constant percolating of surface waters, a 
rare fertility is developed in the ravines opening upon the canon shore. A luxu- 
riance of ferns and mosses, an almost tropical wealth of green leaves and velvety 
carpeting line the banks. There are no rocks at the base of the fall. The 
sheet of foam plunges almost vertically into a dark beryl-green lake-like ex- 
panse of river. 

" Immense volumes of foam roll up from the cataract base, and whirling 
about in eddying winds, rise often a thousand feet in the air. When the wind 
blows down the canon a gray mist obscures the river for half a mile, and when, 
as is usually the case in the afternoon, the breezes blow eastward, the foam 
cloud curls over the brink of the fall and hangs like a veil over the upper river. 



28 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

On what condition depends the height to which the foam cloud rises from the 
base of the fall it is apparently impossible to determine. Without the slightest 
wind the cloud of spray often rises several hundred feet above the caiion wall, 
and again, with apparently the same conditions of river and atmosphere, it 
hardly reaches the brink. Incessant roar, re-enforced by a thousand echoes, nils 
the caiion. Out of this monotone from time to time rise strange wild sounds, and 
now and then may be heard a slow, measured beat, not unlike the recurring fall 
of breakers. From the white front of the cataract the eye constantly wanders 
up to the black, foaming parapet of lava. Angular bastions rise sharply from 
the general level of the wall, and here and there isolated blocks, profiling upon 
their sky line, strikingly recall barbette batteries. To goad one's imagination 
up to the point of perpetually seeing resemblances of everything else in the 
forms of rock is the most vulgar vice of travelers; to refuse to see the archi- 
tectural suggestions upon Snake Canon, however, is to administer a flat snub to 
one's fancy. The whole edge of the canon is deeply cleft in vertical crevices. 
The actual brink is usually formed of irregular blocks and prisms of lava, 
poised upon their ends in an unstable equilibrium, ready to be tumbled over at 
the first leverage of the frost. Hardly an hour passes without the boom of 
one of those rock masses falling upon the ragged debris piles below. 

" Night is -the true time to appreciate the full force of the scene. I lay 
and watched it many hours. The broken rim of the basin profiled itself upon 
a mass of drifting clouds, when torn openings revealed gleams of pale moon- 
light and bits of remote sky trembling with misty stars. Intervals of light 
and blank darkness hurriedly followed each other. For a moment the black 
gorge would be crowded with forms. Tall cliffs, ramparts of lava, the rug- 
ged outlines of islands huddled together on the cataract's brink, faintly lumi- 
nous foam breaking over black rapids, the swift white leap of the river, and 
a ghostly, formless mist through which the canon walls and far reach of the 
lower river were veiled and unveiled again and again. A moment of this 
strange picture, and then a rush of black shadow, when nothing could be seen 
but the breaks in the clouds, the basin rim, and a vague white center in the 
general darkness. * * * 

" To the left of the island half the river plunges off an overhanging 
lip, and falls about 150 feet, the whole volume reaching the surface of the 
basin many feet from the wall. The other half has worn away the edge, and 
descends in a tumbling cascade at an angle of about forty-five degrees. The 
river at this point has not yet worn through the fields of basaltic lava which 
form the upper 400 feet of the plain. Between the two falls it cuts through 
the remaining beds of basalt, and has eroded its channel 100 feet into under- 
lying porphyritic trachyte. The trachyte erodes far more easily than basalt, 
and its resultant forms are quite unlike those of the black lava. The trachyte 
islands and walls are excavated here and there in deep caves, leaving island 
masses in the forms of mounds and towers. In general, spherical outlines 
predominate, while the erosion of the basalt results always in sharp perpen- 
dicular cliffs, with deeply inclined talus of ragged debris. 

"The cliffs around the upper cataract are inferior to those of the Shoshone. 
While the level of the upper plain remains nearly the same, the river con- 
stantly deepens the channel in its westward course. In returning from the 
upper fall, I attempted to climb along the very edge of the cliff, in order to 
study carefully the habits of the basalt, but I found myself in a labyrinth of 
side crevices, which were cut into the plain from a hundred to a thousand feet 
back from the main wall. These recesses were usually in the form of an 
amphitheater, with black walls 200 feet high, and a bottom filled with im- 
mense fragments of basalt rudely piled together." 

These falls are easily accessible by a stage line from the town of Shoshone 
on the Oregon Short Line, only twenty miles distant. A hotel is to be built 
shortly, with ample accommodations. 

LAKES. 

Scattered among the mountain ranges are countless lakes of every descrip- 
tion. Kootenai is par excellence the lake county of Idaho. Within her 
boundaries are Coeur d'Alene, Pend d'Oreille, Kanisku, Cocolalla, and numer- 
ous smaller lakes and mountain tarns. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 29 

Though nearly every county in the Territory can boast of its ponds 
and lakes, the principal body of water in southern Idaho is Bear Lake, which 
gives its name to the extreme south-eastern county, and which is described in 
the article on that county. Cceur d'Alene Lake is about thirty miles long, 
with a width varying from two to four miles. A daily line of steamers plies 
its waters from Fort Cceur d'Alene to the old Mission, Its waters are clear 
and cool, and abound in fish. The banks are mountainous, covered with 
timber. Cceur d'Alene, St. Joseph's, and St. Mary's rivers flow into it, and 
the Spokane is its outlet. As the greater portion of it is surrounded by an 
Indian reservation, but little signs of civilization are visible, excepting at the 
military post, which occupies the lower end of the lake, and where a commo- 
dious hotel offers accommodations for visitors and tourists. 

Lake Pend d'Oreille is doubtless one of the most beautiful sheets of water 
in the United States. It is of irregular shape, about sixty miles in length r 
and of a width varying from three to fifteen miles. It is i a reality a widen- 
ing of Clarke's Fork, and winds its picturesque way among the wood-covered 
mountains, which rise up from its shores in a never-ceasing panorama of beau- 
tiful surprises. An excellent view is had from the car windows of the North- 
ern Pacific, which crosses a neck of the lake upon a trestle bridge 8,400 feet 
long. There are two steamers on the lake at present. If unsurpassed natu- 
ral scenery, abundance of fish in the lake, and plenty of game in the sur- 
rounding forests can offer any attractions, Pend d'Oreille must within a few 
years become one of the most noted resorts in the North-west. 

Kanisku Lake, in the northern part of the county, is about twenty miles 
long, and half as wide. This and others are situated in wild and still unex- 
plored regions. Lake Waha is a favorite resort for the people of Lewiston. 
It is a small sheet of water not two miles long, and about half a mile wide. 
Its ban' s are precipitous, and covered with timber. One of its chief claims 
to popularity is its abundance of trout. An enthusiastic writer, in referring 
to Waha, says : ' ' Nothing we have ever seen can exceed the tranquil beauty 
of thi3 sylvan, this idyllic scene, with its mountain solitudes, unbroken by a 
discordant sound, and its wealth of charming landscapes and xanthic skies. 19 

The Payette Lake is one of the sources of Payette River. It is situated 
in Boise 1 County, and is rapidly becoming a favorite resort for the people of 
Boise" City and neighborhood. It is ten miles long, and about half as wide. 
It is surrounded by mountains, and is famous for its trout, red fish, and white 
fish. Its depth is unknown. It has been sounded to a depth of half a mile 
without striking bottom. 

Among the most beautiful of the smaller lakes is Tahoma, situated in 
the Sawtooth Mountains, at an elevation of 8,000 feet. It is about fifty 
miles from Hailey, and is reached by a good wagon road from the Sawtooth 
mining camps. With the exception of the narrow, level space traversed by 
the road, the lake is mountain-locked, the peaks on one side rising a thou- 
sand feet above the surface of the water. These peaks are covered with 
evergreen timber, pine, spruce, and fir, while on the other side a mass of 
granite crags rises 1,500 feet. The lake has been sounded to a depth of 1,000 
feet without striking bottom. It is supposed to be 1,500 feet deep, but 
this is merely an estimate. 

Other lakes and objects of natural scenery will be referred to in their 
proper places in articles on the respective counties. 



CHAP. Ill -NATIVE TREES, PLANTS, AND ANIMALS. 



TIMBER. 



The railroad traveler crossing southern and eastern Idaho, after travers- 
ing the vast extent of sage-brush plains, would hardly imagine that within 
the Territory were immense reaches of timber, in many places so thick as to 
exclude the light of the sun. In Boise\ Lemhi, Custer, and Alturas countie» 



30 RESOURCES OP IDAHO. 

are extensive forests. The upper waters of the Boise" River and its tribu- 
taries, including the South Fork, are heavily timbered. The amount of 
merchantable timber in that section is estimated from fifty to sixty million 
feet, exclusive of the South Fork, which is claimed to be more heavily tim- 
bered than either of the other tributaries. These forests extend thirty or 
forty miles into the mountains, and consist of white pine, fir, and cotton- 
wood in abundance. The tributaries of the upper Salmon also abound with 
the same kind of timber. On Salmon and Craig's mountains, in Idaho 
County, an extensive body of excellent timber is found, reaching from the 
Snake River, near the mouth of the Salmon River, to and across the North 
Fork of the Clearwater, some sixty miles. It is estimated that this belt is 
from five to ten miles in width, and consists of white and yellow pine, red 
and yellow fir, and white cedar. This timber is of large growth, and valua- 
ble for lumbering purposes. Spruce and tamarack are found on the Lolo 
Creek, a tributary of the Clearwater. Yew trees one foot in diameter are 
found on the mountains, also mountain mahogany of small size. Silver birch 
is found on the upper part of the Clearwater. White- pine logs five feet in 
diameter and 100 feet in length, without a knot, have been rafted down the 
Clearwater, furnishing the finest quality of lumber for finishing purposes. 

The greatest timber regions are in Shoshone and Kootenai counties. The 
Pend d'Oreille forests extend in all directions from the lake, covering an 
area over a hundred miles square. Gigantic monarchs of the forest lift 
their heads aloft at a height over two hundred feet. Bull piue, white pine, 
tamarack, and fir predominate. Cedars attain marvelous height and thickness. 
From many of the trees the Spanish moss hangs in long, graceful festoons, 
adding a pleasing variety to the otherwise somber scene. "This superb for- 
est of the Pend d'Oreille," writes E. V. Smalley in the Century magazine, " is 
a vast lumber preserve for future generations. The pineries of Michigan and 
Minnesota look like open parks compared with it. Nowhere else in the 
United States, save on the western slopes of the western mountains in Wash- 
ington Territory, can be found such a prodigious amount of timber to the 
acre." 

The following list of Idaho trees is from Mr. Elliott's history. The max- 
imum observed height and diameter are given. It is probably true that some 
species here ranked as trees are never really arboreous', and that others which 
have been entitled as shrubs should be classed as trees. 

Feet in In. In 
Height. Diana. 
Rhamnus Purshia?ia, Chittim wood. Bearberry. Bark decoc- 
tion a violent cathartic 40 8 

Acer Circinatum, Vine Maple ; bushy, beautiful 25 8 

Acer Macrophyllum, Large-leaved Maple _ . ... . 70 40 

Prunus (cerasus) emarginata, varvwllis, Wild Cherry 50 8 

Primus (cerasus) demissa, Choke Cherry 35 7 

Nuttalia cerasiformis, Seamberry, Squawberry 20 3 

Cercoca.rpus ledifolius, Mountain Mahogany 25 4 

Crataegus Douglasii, Blackhaw 20 ». 

Crataegus rivularis 20 

Amalanchier Canadensis, Serviceberry 20 4 

Cornus Nuttattii, Dogwood ; very showy in flower 50 10 

Sambucus Glauca, Elder 40 20 

Arbutus Menziesii, Laurel, Madrona ; very beautiful ; wood takes 

good polish ; hard 50 36 

Umbelluria (Oreodaphne) CaVfornica, Myrtle ; tree beautiful ; 

wood well adapted to cabinet work 100 50 

Quercus densijlora ; resembles the Eastern chestnut oak. South- 
ern half of Idaho 60 12 

Quercus Oarryana, White Oak ; habitat all parts of Idaho 90 40 

Castanopis Chryssopldlla, Chinquapin GO 12 

Alnus rhomb/folia, Alder 80 36 

Salix lasiandra, Willow .' 50 13 

Populus tremuloides, Quaking Asp 30 8 

Populus trichocarpa, known as balm 90 72 



RESOURCES OE IDAHO. 31 

Feet in In. In 
Height.. Diam. 

Taxus brevifolia, Yew. The most durable timber in Idaho 

Juniperus occidentalls, Juniper 50 24 

Cupressus (C 'hamate ijparis) Laiosoniana, Port Orford Cedar. 

One of our most valuable trees, but of very limited habitat. 200 72 

Abies concolor, frequently called White Fir in California. 

Found in the mountains 

Abies grandis, White Fir. This tree is the ordinary white fir 

of all our valleys 200 60 

Abies nobilis, the Noble Fir. Inhabits all our mountain regions 

at an elevation of from 3,000 to 5,000 feet 200 72 

Abies amabilis, Lovely Fir. This is also a mountain tree, with 

nearly the same habitat as the preceding, though very dis- 
tinct from it 100 36 

Abies subalpina. Grows at an elevation of 3,000 to 6,000 feet. . CO 24 

Abies Doiifjlasii, our most common fir 300 144 

Abies Mertensiana, Hemlock 150 40 

Abies Paitoniana, Mountain Hemlock 100 40 

Abies Engelmanni, a small mountain tree 50 12 

Abies SitchensiSf Tideland Spruce. Frequently known among 

botanists as Abies Menziesii 200 ,»* 

Larix Lyrallii, Larch. A small tree on the eastern slope 

Pinus contorla, Black Pine, Jack Pine 70 36 

Pinus albicaulis 60' __ 24 

Pinus Lambertana, Sugar Pine. Found on the mountain tops . 250 100 

Pinus monticola, Silver Pine. Resembles the sugar pine 150 40 

Pinus ponderosa, the common pine in the valley 175 60 

Pinus tuberculata, a small tree, and found in patches in the 

mountains 50 12 

i - 

In the above list the scientific name is printed in Italics, and is, with few 
exceptions, followed by the popular name in Roman. 

In Kootenai County, in the neighborhood of the Northern Pacific Railroad, 
is a region of magnificent timber, many of the trees being from seven to ten 
feet in diameter, and of great height. The varieties are red fir, white pine, 
white cedar, hemlock, tamarack, and larch. 

WILD FRUITS. 

Grapes, blackberries, huckleberries, gooseberries, raspberries, salmon- 
berries, and strawberries grow wild in profusion on the mountain sides and 
foothills. The camas, which gives a name to several prairies in the Territory, 
is found in all sections. It is a bulb which is prized highly by the Indians for 
food. 

GRASSES. 

In central Idaho there are not less than thirteen different species of in- 
digenous and nutritious grasses, all differing in leaf, height, root, and seed top, 
and which retain vigorous vitality throughout the coldest winters. "There 
are," says Mr. Miller, " several species of flowering certeluisia, or greasewood, 
and from two or three times as many more of wild desert thyme, or sage brush, 
all very valuable for medicinal properties, and in many localities almost indis- 
pensable for fuel, together with several species of wild grasses. Some varie- 
ties of the sage are eaten with avidity by cattle, sheep, horses, mules, and wild 
game, such as elk, deer, bear, rabbit, sage-hens, crows, hawks, grouse, and 
others, during the winter season." 

WILD FLOWERS. 

Wild flowers grow in profusion, not only in the canons and the valleys, 
but along the mountain sides. In early summer the surface is resplendent 
with gay tints. Among the more common may be mentioned the larkspur, 
columbine, harebell, lupine, primrose, aster, painted cup, gentian, daisy, 
buttercup, forget-me-not, and phlox. There are several species of violets 



32 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

and fragrant wild roses. Other beautiful varieties might be mentioned, 
which, however, would be of more interest to the botanist than the general 
reader. 

NATIVE ANIMALS. 

With the advancement of civilization many of the wilder animals have 
withdrawn farther into the mountain fastnesses. Buffalo, for instance, were 
once numerous in eastern Idaho, but have wholly disappeared. Still there is 
sufficient to satisfy the most ambitious hunter. Grizzly, black, and cinnamon 
bears are still numerous in the forests and mountains. The silver-tipped bear 
is more rare. The specimen exhibited at the New Orleans Exposition was 
captured among the mountains of Sawtooth range. The Ketchum Keystone 
thus chronicles the important event : 

"On the 2Sth of August last, Mr. Schwartz of Sawtooth, an old bear- 
hunter, succeeded in trapping alive a huge Bruin of the silver-tipped species, 
and safely caged it after repeated efforts lasting through several days. This 
is the only bear of the kind ever caught in the country that any one is aware 
of. He is king of a rare species, and had become familiar to the people in 
that vicinity through his repeated raids and the immense footprints he left 
behind him, said to be little less than a bushel basket. He was known as 
'Sawtooth Jack,' and was the recognized monarch of the Upper Salmon Val- 
ley. For three consecutive seasons every possible effort and strategy were 
exerted to capture ' Jack, ' but he was aware that he was wanted and kept 
close watch for trap-signs. Salmon were scarce the past summer, and ' Jack ' 
resorted to the slaughter-house offal for sustenance wherewith to keep his 
huge frame in good condition ; and one dark night while fooling around the 
aforesaid butcher's corral, he ' put his foot in it.' 

"When the people of Sawtooth and surrounding country heard that 
' Jack ' was entrapped, they turned out, to a man, woman, and child, and 
helped to cage him, after which they had a banquet and a torchlight procession. 

"' Sawtooth Jack ' is believed to be 27 years of age, and pulls down the 
hay scales to the 1,100 notch, and takes in a sheep for breakfast with great 
relish. He leaves a devoted wife and two small children to mourn him in his 
untimely taking off, with a long cold winter staring them in the face. 

" * Jack ' is on exhibition in Ketchum to-day (October 14th), and from 
here, in charge of Fritz Schwartz and his captor, goes to Hailey, Bullion, 
Bellevue, and other points below, and will also be exhibited at prominent 
places all the way down to New Orleans, where he will be assigned a prom- 
inent corner with the Idaho exhibit. 

" Mr. Schwartz has a fortune in his ' catch.' Every person between 
Wood River and New Orleans should see the old ' Sawtooth ' guerrilla and the 
first settler of the upper Salmon country." 

The American elk is found now chiefly in the northern counties, but is 
rapidly disappearing. Antelope are still comparatively numerous throughout 
the Territory, as are also black-tail and white-tail deer. 

It is beyond the province of this work to give an extensive or scientific 
treatise on the fauna of Idaho. It will be sufficient for our purpose to give, 
in addition to those already mentioned, simply a list of the more common 
native quadrupeds of the Territory, viz. : the Rocky Mountain sheep, Cali 
fornia lion, yellow wolf, coyote, moose, wolverene, lynx or catamount, wild- 
cat, fox (black, gray, silver, and cross), weasel, badger, marten, mink, large 
striped skunk, small spotted skunk, large gray, ground, pine, and flying 
sqirrel, chipmunk, otter, raccoon, woodchuck, gopher, mole, wood-mouse, 
" kangaroo rat," and jack rabbit. 

The birds are those common throughout the north-west. Eagles (bald and 
golden) are abundant in the mountains, especially in the neighborhood of 
streams. Wild ducks, swans, geese, pelicans, and quail are plentiful in season. 
The burrowing owl, fish-hawk, and buzzard may be mentioned among the 
larger birds. In addition to these, are the usual varieties of woodpecker, 
raven, hawk, grouse, pigeon, meadow lark, magpie, red-winged blackbird, 
bluebird, robin, snipe, piover, curlew, sparrow, crossbill, linnet, oriole, Cali- 
fornia canary, swallow, two varieties of humming birds, and mallard and 
canvas-back ducks. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 33 

In nearly all the streams and lakes trout abound, frequently weighing over 
two pounds. Salmon run up the Columbia River into the Snake and its many 
tributaries, there spawn, and return late in the spring or early summer. Stur- 
geon of enormous size, frequently from 600 to 1,000 pounds in weight, are 
abundant in Snake River. 

The Payette Lakes and Lake Tahoma are the homes of the red-fish. This 
is a large, beautiful fish, weighing from 2\ to 4 pounds, is of a bright red 
color, with head and fins of light brown, and is excellent eating. When the 
young fish are hatched, they seek the deeper waters of the lake, where they 
disappear, remaining until nearly full grown. A species known as bull-trout 
is found in Payette Lake ; they are larger than the ordinary salmon-trout, and 
weigh from five to eleven pounds. 



CHAPTER IV.-MINfNG. 



/ Idaho is essentially a mining Territory. It was her mines that first stimu- 
lated immigration to within her borders, and it is to the results of the mines 
that her present prosperity is due in a great measure. Now that mining has 
been reduced to a legitimate occupation, there is less reckless speculation, 
perhaps, than of old, but more solid, substantial business. The days of stock 
gambling in mining properties are about over. Science, aided by practical 
experience, has taught the best methods of treating ores.. Capitalists no longer 
purchase prospects for fabulous prices on the strength of picked specimens or 
the vicinity of rich claims. It is a fortunate circumstance for Idaho that 
mining for the past eight years has been for the most part a steady, productive 
industry, yielding rich returns to the patient and intelligent prospector, and 
it has not been necessary to rely on fictitious " booms." 

As in the case of mining countries generally, the placer mines first attracted 
attention. The placers of Boise Basin, Salmon River, and other localities had 
yielded rich returns. But it is within a comparatively brief period that quartz 
mining has become as general as at present in southern and central Idaho. 
Even now, in the best known mining regions there are hundreds of miles as 
yet unexplored?) 

The minerals of Idaho are gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, plumbago, 
quicksilver, coal, and others. There are also mountains of sulphur, productive 
salt springs, quarries of the finest marble and building stone, large deposits 
of mica, and various varieties of semi-precious stones. Her precious-metal 
belt is three hundred and fifty miles long, and from ten to one hundred and 
fifty miles wide. 

DISCOVERY OF GOLD. 

It is reported that gold was discovered by a French Canadian in Pend 
d'Oreille River, in 1852. Two years later General Lander found gold while 
exploring the route for a military road from the Columbia to Fort Bridger. 
The earnest discoveries of which we have any authentic record, however, 
were probably made by members of the party with that veteran pioneer 
and path-finder, Captain John Mullan, the originator of the now famous 
Mullan road, built nearly thirty years ago, from Fort Benton to Walla Walla, 
a distance of 624 miles. In a letter dated Washington, D. C. , June 4, 1884, 
to Mr. A. F. Parker of Eagle City, he says : 

" I am not at all surprised at the discovery of numerous rich gold 
deposits in your mountains, because both on the waters of the St. Joseph 
and the Cceur d'Alene, when there many years ago, I frequently noticed 
rast masses of quartz strewing the ground, particularly on the St. Joseph 



34 RESOURCES OF IDAHO, 

River, and wide veins of quartz projecting at numerous points along the 
line of my road along the Coeur d'Alene, all of which indicated the presence 
of gold. Nay, more: I now recall quite vividly the fact that one of my 
herders and hunters, a man by the name of Moise, coming into camp one 
day with a handful of coarse gold, which he said he found on the waters of 
the north fork of the Cceur d'Alene while out hunting for our expedition. 
This was in 1858 or 1S59. * * * The members of my expedition 
were composed very largely of old miners from California, and having had 
more or less experience in noticing the indication of mineral deposits, their 
universal verdict was that the entire country, from Coeur d'Alene Lake on 
toward and including the east slope of the Rocky Mountains, was one vast 
gold-bearing country, and I was always nervous as to the possible discovery 
of gold along the line of my road; and I am now frank to say that I did 
nothing to encourage its discovery at that time, for I feared that any rich 
discovery would lead to a general stampede of my men from my expedition, 
and thus destroy the probable consummation of my work during the time 
with mi which I desired to complete the same. I then regarded it as of the first 
importance to myself and to the public to open a base line from the plains 
of the Spokane on the west to the plains of the Missouri on tho east, from 
which other lines could be subsequently opened, and by means of which the 
correct geography of the country could be delineated. My object at that 
time was to ascertain whether there was a practicable railroad line through 
the valleys, and if there existed any practicable pass in the main range of the 
Rocky Mountains through which, in connection with the proper approaches 
thereto, we could carry a wagon road, to be followed by a railroad line, and 
I did not hesitate to make all other considerations secondary or subordinate 
thereto, believing then, and knowing now, that if a railroad line was pro- 
jected and completed through the valleys and the passes of the Rocky 
Mountains, between the forty-fifth and forty-eighth parallels of latitude, all 
other developments would naturally and necessarily soon follow." 

CA romantic tale is told of the discoveries which led to the Oro Fino 
excitement in 1860. Tradition relates that a Nez Perce" Indian, in 1860, 
informed Captain E. D. Pierce that while himself and two companions were 
camping at night among the defiles of his native mountains, an apparition in 
the shape of a brilliant star suddenly burst forth from among the cliffs. 
They believed it to be the eye of the Great Spirit, and when daylight had 
given them sufficient courage they sought the spot, and found a glittering 
ball that looked like glass, embodied in the solid rock. The Indians believed 
it to be "great medicine," but could not get it from its resting-place. With 
his ardent imagination fired by such a tale, Captain Pierce organized a com- 
pany, and with the hope of finding the "eye of their Manitou," explored 
the mountains in the country of the Nez Percys. 

He was accompanied by W. F. Bassett, Thomas Walters, Jonathan Smith, 
and John and James Dodge. The Indians distrusted them, however, and re- 
fused to permit them to make further search. They would doubtless have had 
to leave the country had not a Nez Perce" squaw come to their relief and piloted 
them through tc the North Fork of the Clearwater and the Palouse country, 
cutting a trail for days through the small cedars, reaching a mountain meadow, 
where they stopped to rest. While there Bassett went to a stream and tried 
the soil for gold, finding about three cents in his first panful of dirt. This is 
said to be the discovery that resulted in the afterwards famous Oro Fino mines. 
After taking out about eighty dollars they returned to Walla Walla. Sergeant 
J. C. Smith of that place thereupon fitted out a party and started for the 
mines, reaching there in November, 18G0. In the following March Smith 
made his way out on ' snow-shoes, taking with him $S00 in gold-dust. This 
dust was shipped to Portland, where it caused a blaze of excitement. 

During 1861 and 1862 the rush continued. Steamers arrived at Portland 
from San Francisco and Victoria loaded down with freight and passengers for 
the new gold-fields. New mining regions were constantly discovered. In the 
spring of 1861 Pierce City was founded, and named in honor of Captain Pierce. 
The Elk City tnines were discovered early in 1S61 by parties from Oro Fino. 
Florence was discovered in the following autumn. In August, 186'2, James 
Warrens and others located claims in what was thereafter known a3 Warrens' 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 35 

Diggings. These last-named are all in Idaho county, on the tributaries of 
the Salmon River. Warrens never caused the rush and excitement that at- 
tended the discovery of Florence. The latter, it was claimed, was found by a 
greenhorn, one of a party of seven hunters. The recklessness characteristic 
of new mining camps found full play here. Thirty men were killed in the 
first year ; shooting and cutting were every-day matters. Prices were abnor- 
mal. Flour cost $1 per pound; bacon, $1.25; butter, $3; sugar, $1.25; 
gum boots per pair, $30; and other articles in proportion. 

The Walla Walla Statesman, in chronicling the event, gives the following 
description of the discovery of the Salmon River mines in 1S61 : " S. F. 
Ledyard arrived last evening from the Salmon River mines ; and from him it 
is learned that some 600 miners would winter there ; that some 200 had gone 
to the south side of the river, where two streams head that empty into the 
Salmon, some thirty miles south-east of the present mining camp. Coarse 
gold is found, and as high $100 per day to the man has been taken out. The 
big mining claim of the old locality belongs to Mr. Weiser of Oregon, from 
where $2,680 were taken on the 20th, with rockers. On the 21st $3,360 were 
taken out with the same machines. Other claims were paying from two to 
five pounds a day. Flour has fallen to fifty cents per pound, and beef at from 
fifteen to twenty-five cents is to be found in abundance. Most of the mines 
are supplied till the first of June. Mr. Ledyard met between Slate Creek and 
Walla Walla, en route for the mines, 394 packs and 250 head of beef cattle." 

The same journal on December 13, 1861, gives the following account of 
the new diggings : "The tide of emigration to Salmon River flows steadily 
onward. During the week past not less than 225 pack-animals, heavily laden 
with provisions, have left this city [Walla Walla] for the mines. If the mines 
are one half so rich as they are said to be, we may safely calculate that many 
of these trains will return as heavily laden with gold-dust as they are now 
with provisions. 

"The late news from Salmon River seems to have given the gold fever to 
everybody in this immediate neighborhood. A number of persons from Flor- 
ence City have arrived in this place during the week, and all bring the most 
extravagant reports as to the richness of the mines. A report in relation to 
a rich strike made by Mr. Bridges of Oregon City seems to come well authen- 
ticated. The first day he worked on his claim, near Baboon Gulch, he took 
57 ounces ; the second day he took 157 ounces ; third day, 214 ounces ; 
and the fourth day 200 ounces in two hours. One gentleman informs us that 
diggings have been found on the bars of the Salmon River which yield from 
twenty-five cents to $2.50 to the pan, and that on claims in the Salmon River 
diggings have been found where ' ounces ' won't describe them, and where they 
say the gulches are ' full of gold.' 

"The discoverer of Baboon Gulch arrived in this city yesterday, bring- 
ing with him sixty pounds of gold-dust; and Mr. Jacob Weiser is on his way 
in with a mule loaded with gold-dust." 

Such glowing descriptions twenty-three years ago had their inevitable 
effects, while the more substantial argument was adduced in the fact that 
$1,750,000 in gold-dust were exported from this region that year. According 
to Mr. Elliott, during April, 1862, 3,000 persons left Portland, by steamer, 
for the mines, and by the last of May it was estimated that between 20,000 
and 25,000 persons had reached or were on their way to and near the mines 
east of the Cascade Mountains. The yield accounted for, of gold, in 1862, in 
this region of country, reached $7,000,000, and several millions in addition to 
this were shipped through avenues not reported. 

" Such," says the chronicler, "were the results following in a few short 
months upon the trail pioneered by E. D. Pierce, W. F. Bassett, and their lit- 
tle party of prospectors whom the Indians had driven out of the country, but 
to return to it again and ag^in, first led by a squaw, then through the assist- 
ance of J. C. Smith, when pursued as trespassers by a company of United 
States cavalry. Enough has been given to show the reader the influence that 
awoke eastern Washington, Oregon, and Idaho from their sleep through the 
centuries, to a new era of activity and usefulness." 

It was a strange throng that came pouring over the mountains of north 
Idaho in the days of 1862. On foot, horseback, or any other means that could 



36 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

be obtained, they pushed their way over swollen rivers, rugged mountains, and 
Indian-infested valleys. Lewiston, Lapwai, Oro Fino, Pierce City, Elk City, 
Florence — these were the magic names that fired the imaginations and stimu- 
lated the ardor of these dauntless pioneers\ 

One of the effects of the Florence excitement was the discovery of Boise 
Basin, in Boise - County. A party of men left Florence in the fall of 1SG1, and 
in the following summer passed over into central Idaho. They came by the 
way of Oregon, crossing the Snake River by the mouth of the Bois6. They 
followed up Boise" River to the site of Boise" City. Under instructions 
from an Indian whom they there encountered, they struck out for the moun- 
tains north of Boise" River, and subsequently camped near where Centreville 
now stands. While prospecting on the creek, one of the party named Grimes 
was killed by Indians. The creek, which has become famous in the history 
of Idaho placer mining, has ever since been called Grimes Creek. 

After the death of Grimes, his companions left the country for Walla Walla. 
Another party returned to the Basin in October, 1862. A stockade was built, 
and the place was styled " Fort Hog'em," a name which survives to this day, 
though Pioneerville is the appellation given on the maps. A writer in the 
Idaho World gives the following account of the discovery of Boise" Basin : 

"A party of thirty-eight men, known as Turner's party, left Auburn, 
Oregon^ in the spring of 1862, for Sinker Creek, in Owyhee County. It was 
reported that emigrants, in fishing along this creek, used gold nuggets, picked 
up on the creek, for sinkers — hence the name. Joseph Branstetter of this 
place was with Turner's party. Failing to find gold on Sinker Creek, Bran- 
stetter and seven others left the party and met Captain Grimes' party of eight 
men, between Sinker Creek and Owyhee River. Grimes' party and Branstet- 
ter and three others of his party, Colonel Dave Fogus one of the number, 
making twelve men all told, concluded to strike up into the mountains of this 
section. They crossed Snake River, eight miles above the Owyhee River, in 
skiffs made of willows. Snake River was then at high-water mark. The 
party struck Grimes Creek near Black's Ranch and followed up said creek, 
along which they first discovered gold, near where the town of Boston stood — 
two or three miles below Centreville. They obtained good prospects there — 
about a bit to the pan. The party proceeded up to Grimes Pass, near the 
head of Grimes Creek. One day, while all of the party were in camp, a shot was 
fired a short distance from the camp, the bullet passing over the men's heads. 
A few moments after a second shot was fired, the bullet cutting the hair over 
one of Mr. Branstelter's ears. Grimes, a Portuguese named Phillip, MoseSplann, 
and Wilson, Grimes' partner, then struck out from camp on the hunt of the 
Indian that did the shooting. Grimes got on the track of the Indian, on the 
hill above camp, and was following the tracks with his shot-gun in his hands 
when the fatal shot was fired. Splann was about fifty yards to Grimes' left, 
and the Portuguese a short distance behind. Grimes was within thirty steps 
of the Indian and about a hundred and fifty yards from the camp when he 
was shot. The Indian made his escape. Grimes was shot near the heart, 
and lived only long enough to tell Wilson to tell his wife, who was in Portland, 
how he came to his death. Grimes frequently made the remark that he 
would never reach home — that he was to be killed by Indians. The day be- 
fore he was killed he remarked, while gazing at the picture of his only child, 
a daughter of a few years of age, that he would never see her again — that he 
had only a short time to live. His daughter, we are informed, is still living, 
and visited Boise" City a year ago. Grimes' remains were buried at Grimes 
Pass, where he was killed. Grimes was a young man, twenty-seven or 
twenty-eight years of age. The party consisted of four Portuguese and three 
other men, in addition to those mentioned, the names of two of whom Mr. 
Branstetter never knew, and the names of the others he has forgotten. Grimes 
was killed in August, 1862. A short time after his death the party left for 
Auburn, Oregon, and returned in October of the same year. There are now 
only two of the Grimes party known to be living, Colonel Fogus and Mr. 
Branstetter. That fall Branstetter and A. Saunders rocked out from $50 to 
$75 a day near Pioneerville, and packed the dirt 100 yards in sacks. A. D. 
Saunders and Marion Moore returned with the party in October. The party 
numbered ninety-three men. Jeff Standifer's party arrived from Florence 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 37 

about a week after the party of ninety -three got in from Auburn. W. B. 
Noble of this place was with the Standifer party. The above was related to 
us by Mr. Branstetter. He was the youngest man in Grimes' party ; was 
twenty years of age when they reached Boise Basin." 

The mines on Granite Creek were discovered about the 1st of December by 
the party, who also located the site of Placerville, which contained about six 
cabins partly completed on the. 14th day of that month. 

Boise" Basin soon became known as the greatest placer country outside of 
California. By the 1st of January, 1863, over three thousand men had made 
their way into it. Centreville, Pioneerville, Placerville, Granite Creek, Idaho 
City (originally known as Bannock), sprung into existence, and by September 
of that year there were probably 2,500 men scattered through the Basin. 
Several million dollars had been taken out by the close of the season that 
year. In July, 1864, over 2,500 claims had been recorded in Banner district; 
in Centreville over 2,000, and in Placerville over 4,500. 

Idaho City, or Bannock, became the metropolis of the Basin, and at one 
time could boast of a population, transient and permanent, estimated as high 
as from seven thousand to ten thousand. On the 18th of May, 1865, the town 
was completely destroyed by a disastrous fire, property to the extent of one and 
a quarter million of dollars lost, and seven thousand people left homeless and 
shelterless. The town was rebuilt during the same season, however, and 
though three times destroyed by fire, for many years retained its prestige as 
the leading mining town of Idaho. 

The first ferry across Snake River was established in 1862. A number of 
persons from Placerville, twenty-seven in all, in the spring of 1863, visited 
what is now Owyhee County. They discovered Reynolds Creek, which was 
named in honor of one of their party. On the following day the men reached 
a stream, where they camped, panned the gravel, and obtained a hundred colors. 
The place was named Discovery Bar. Happy Camp, near the site of Ruby 
City, was discovered soon after. The creek was named after the leader of the 
expedition, and the district was called Carson, after another member of the 
party. 

In July the first quartz lead was discovered by R. H. Wade, and named 
Whisky Gulch. In the following month the placers in the French District 
were discovered, and also the Oro Fino quartz ledge. 

The celebrated Poorman mine was not discovered until October, 1865. 

The mines of middle and south Boise\ in Alturas County, including At- 
lanta, Yuba, and Rocky Bar, were discovered in 1864, and are worked up to 
the present time. 

Such in brief is the history of the mineral discoveries in Idaho prior to 
1870. By that time the rush, the fever, the excitement attendant upon new 
discoveries, had quieted down. Many of those who had come into the Terri- 
tory, carried along by the wave of excitement, left with the ebbing tide. 
The placer mines had been worked, though by no means exhausted. The rush 
had subsided and a reaction had set in. According to statistics, the yield of 
1S69 was less than that of any year before or since. Those who remained in 
Idaho, however, continued to prosper. 

Idaho's present area is about 84,800 square miles. Dispersed over this 
immense surface, comprising a territory greater than that of New York, New 
Jersey, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire combined, there were in 1870, ex- 
clusive of tribal Indians, less than 15,000 inhabitants, including 4,274 China- 
men. Her settlements were scattered, frequently a hundred miles or more 
apart. 

Situated far from the ordinary lines of through travel, only the most dar- 
ing and hardj' adventurers sought her mountain solitudes. The only means 
of communication were by tedious journeys by stage or team, or more fre- 
quently on horseback, over rough mountain trails, where natural obstacles 
were only enhanced by the of t-recurring presence of prowling bands of Indians, 
■who so long resented the intrusion of the whites. The nearest railroad at this 
time was the Central Pacific through Utah and Nevada. 

None of these drawbacks, however, could deter the pioneer and prospector. 
Great as these obstacles were, they shrunk into insignificance when confronted 
by the spirit of the gold-seekers. The discoveries of the past were regarded 



38 RESOURCES OP IDAHO. 

as but an earnest of the future. It was known that far up among her moun- 
tain fastnesses were other storehouses of precious metals that needed only en- 
terprise and capital to develop their hidden treasures. From the remote and 
secluded mountains of " Far Idaho," as from an almost unknown and unseen 
source, the golden streams continued flowing. Fcr years the placers of Bois6 
Basin and Salmon River, and the ledges of Owyhee, Rocky Bar, and Atlanta, 
continued yielding their riches, thus constantly adding to the national wealth. 

No discoveries of new fields, and no stampedes of any importance, oc- 
curred, however, for several years. In the mean time the great work of pros- 
pecting the rugged mountains still went on. Far up among the show-capped 
hills of north-eastern Idaho was an unknown region, still described on some 
maps as "unexplored country." Along the tributaries of the upper Salmon, 
in the neighborhood of Yankee Fork, Kinni-kinnick and Bay-horse creeks, 
in what is now Custer County, prior to 1S77, solitary prospectors had located 
a few claims, and placers had been worked to advantage. Occasional visitors 
from that far-off land had exhibited among the mining men of Salt Lake 
City specimens of gold and silver ore, whose assay value could be expressed 
only in four figures. The Charles Dickens had been located in 1S75. A 
thousand dollars had been crushed out in small hand-mortars in a day. Dur- 
ing the first month, two men pounded out about $12,000. A few tons of ore 
were then sacked and shipped to Salt Lake City and to Swansea. The net 
results were $15,000, the highest grade sampling $3,700 per ton. A lot of 
twenty-three tons netted over $17,000. In 1878 a two-bed arrastra, with pan 
and settler, was built at a cost of $19,400, and started up late in August. By 
the first of November, by crushing two tons of quartz per day, the arrastra 
had produced bullion to the amount of $32,000. A well-known writer, speak- 
ing of the General Custer mine in the same district, says: " It is the only 
instance on record where a ledge so immense in wealth and size was already 
opened and developed when the eyes of prospector first looked upon it. Ore 
bodies are usually found beneath the surface, and miners consider themselves 
fortunate if, after long searching by shafts and tunnels, they strike a vein that 
insures them reasonable dividends over and above the cost of development. The 
Custer required no outlay of money to make it a paying mine. Its face was 
good for millions. Nature, in one of her philanthropic moods, did the pros- 
pecting and development. The outer wall of this great treasure-vault, through 
the wear and tear of ages, crumbled and slipped from the ore body for a dis- 
tance of several hundred feet, leaving many thouands of tons of the very 
choicest rock lying against the mountain side, to be broken down at little ex- 
pense." 

The Montana mine on Mt. Estes has been pronounced by mining men 
to be the richest vein of quartz ever discovered, taking the whole vein matter 
from Avail to wall. Some of the ledoje matter is so rich that it has been 
worked in a mortar at the mine. A lot of 225 pounds yielded $1,800. The 
richest ore is so abundant that four to six men can take out $15,000 to 
$25,000 per month. Such were the reports from that section, and experience 
proved them to be well founded. 

The completion of the Utah and Northern to Blackfoot, early in the 
spring of 1S79 brought the Bay-horse district within 150 miles, and the Yankee 
Fork within 190 miles, of railroad communication. In the spring and summer 
of 1S79, people rushed in by the hundreds, and Challis, Custer City, Bonanza, 
Clayton, Crystal City, and iEtna became prosperous mining camps. The Saw- 
tooth and Wood River sections in Alturas County now began to attract at- 
tention, but were not thoroughly prospected till the following year. (See 
article on Alturas County). The editor of the Hailey Times gives the follow- 
ing terse statement, as the record of Wood River : 

WOOD RIVER'S RECORD. 

In 1S78 Wild Indians 

In 1S80 Settled by the Wh^es 

In 1 SSI— yield of the mines $1,250,000 

In 1SS2— yield of the mines 2.500,000 

In 1SS3— yield of the mines 3,500,000 

In 1SS4— yield of the mines (estimated) 5.000.000 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 39 

One of the most remarkable mining excitements in history was the great 
Coeur d'Alene stampede of 18S4. Gold had been discovered in that country in. 
former years, but no developments had ever been made, owing to the remote- 
ness of the locality. In 1SS3 a man named Pritchard discovered and located 
the " Widow's Claim," which proved of more than average richness. Further 
discoveries were made, which were rapidly noised abroad. From the heart of 
the Cceur d'Alene Mountains, though distant only 40 miles from the Northern 
Pacific, came the most exaggerated accounts. The whole region was sub- 
jected to an artificial ''boom," at a most inopportune time. In February of 
1SS4, over the snows came trudging an eager multitude, who would hearken 
neither to the voice of reason nor the warnings of experience. The mails were 
flooded with fantastic descriptions of this latest El Dorado. Newspaper cor- 
respondents from all over the land came flocking thither, and contributed to 
give further publicity to a region already overadvertised. Circulars were 
sent broadcast all over the land, giving the most glowing accounts of nuggets, 
of fabulous wealth, that could be had almost for the seeking. It was declared 
that old prospectors and miners, conversant with the history of the banner 
districts of California, Montana, and Colorado, would stand amazed at the new 
fields so uncqualed in richness and extent ; that $25 to $40 per man per day 
were being panned out in the gulches; that the fields bein^ practically inex- 
haustible, rendered impossible any overcrowding of the district; that wher- 
ever the bed-rock had been uncovered, beautiful rich dust was being " scooped 
up " by the lucky owners; that no machinery or capital was rccpiired ; that 
limitless quartz ledges were being struck " fairly glistening with free gold." 
The result was that in a few weeks, early in the spring of 18S4, the forest land 
at the junction of Eagle and Pritchard Creeks became metamorphosed into a 
city of 5,000 restless inhabitants, all waiting for the snow to disappear. The 
effect of overadvertising soon became manifest in the reaction that took place 
after the summer had fairly set in. A hasty exodus followed, and hundreds 
left on foot, " packing their blankets" and cursing the country. The region 
was even more misrepresented by the unsuccessful adventurers, who, in spite 
of incontestable facts, declared there "was no gold in the country." Many of 
the claims got into litigation, which retarded their development. The July 
term of court at Eagle City settled the disputed titles, when the work of 
development "was fairly begun, and since which time the region has been keep- 
ing up a steady output of gold. Business has settled down to a legitimate 
basis, new discoveries are being constantly made, and the country is being 
systematically opened up. The result proves it to be one of the finest fields 
now offered for the investment of capital. 

SNAKE RIVER PLACERS. 

The course of Snake River has already been described. From Eagle 
Rock, in north-eastern Idaho, for hundreds of miles down the river, the sands of 
the Snake are capable of furnishing remunerative employment to miners for 
generations to come. 

The gold- bearing gravel lies in immense banks, or what were bars when 
the river was higher and larger than it now is. They extend along the river, 
with low channels, sometimes cutting them in two or crossing them. They 
vary, therefore, in width from a few feet to as many miles, and in thickness, 
from a few feet to two hundred. 

At the request of the writer, Major N. H. Camp, superintendent of the 
United States assay office at Boise City, has kindly furnished the following 
description of the Snake River gold-fields : 

"It is popularly supposed that the occupation of a gold-miner is most 
favorably adapted to the development of those qualities called for by a bold and 
adventurous life, uncheered by the amenities of social civilization, untrammcled 
by its laws and intercourse between its members, unlubricated by the presence 
of fair woman. What wonder, then, that gold-seeking should be the chief 
interest of this lonely region! The character of its banks forbids the con- 
struction of towns, Avhile the lack of navigation facilities prevents this great 
water way from ministering to the transportation needs of the neighboring 
stock-farms, sage prairies, or the supplying of the isolated mining camps. It 



40 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

is in such localities that gold delights to reward the pains taken by the lone- 
some prospector, and here does he find, not only the coveted treasure, but in 
such quantities as will reward his patient search at a minimum of expense. 
The only drawback is the extremely small size of the particles of gold ; coarse 
gold is unknown on Snake River, but from Eagle Rock, in Oneida County, 
to the mouth of the river, gold can be found of such exactly similar metal- 
lurgical conditions, both as to fineness in grade (shape of grains being scale- 
like in form) and fineness in character of grains, that it might have come 
from either end of the river. On the affluents of this river gold is also found; 
but even within half a mile of its mouth, ' Boise ' gold sinks to an assay fine- 
ness of from 720 to 780, while that from the river under review will assay over 
900 and even S90. The shape of the grains is noticeably a feature of Snake 
River gold, being so flat and scale-like that the precious metal is often seen 
floating on the surface of the water, while gold from any of the feeder streams 
assumes more the character of shot gold, is coarser, and much more easily har- 
nessed to the service of man. Its extremely small size is also a distinguishing 
mark of this gold. The writer has seen a gold-pan full of the gold-bearing 
sands, which, in the hands of an experienced prospector, soon showed its bot- 
tom as if gilt by a practiced workman. Out of curiosity, an attempt was made 
to count the 'colors,' but when the sum of fourteen hundred was reached, 
the business was given up in disgust — there were no many left to count!. 

" Nor has Nature herself been niggardly in furnishing facilities to man for 
mining these rich deposits. From many a fissure in the canon walls along the 
banks of this wonderful river fall ' springs ' — some of which are the size of 
young rivers — as they are called. Issuing from one to two hundred feet above 
the level of the river, they only require to be conducted to the gravel bars to 
assume the duties of washing out gold. At other points rivers fall into the 
Snake, along whose banks it is only necessary to dig the necessary ditches, to 
convert the streams into the obedient and useful servants of mankind. In 
many cases, however, these ditches have to be blasted out of the lava rock, 
and the dams across the smaller streams are costly and tedious structures, 
making the enterprise, when completed, as dear to the heart as something 
attained only at great cost of time, labor, and capital, as in one instance 
where a miner for two years contented himself with the privations and soli- 
tude of his cabin, mining in a small way, but devoting all his savings and 
leisure to the construction of a ditch, despite the sneers and ridicule of his 
neighbors. The ditch was completed in the spring of 1884, and now he har- 
vests $3,000 per month in virgin gold. 

" Where springs gush from the canon walls in sufficient volume to wash 
gravel for gold, the expense of a moderately profitable mining outfit, com- 
prising say 400 yards of ditching, 72 feet of fluming, 36 feet of sluice-boxes, 
12 feet of grizzlies (sheets of perforated iron), two amalgamating plates, a 
concentrating tank 3 by 6, and 24 feet of burlap tables — ought to be 
not less than $550 to $(300; add the cost of one month's subsistence, $40, for 
two men, and the services of a laborer, and about the cost of a small mining 
establishment on this river is told. This outfit ought to pay for itself in three 
months, and yield a moderate profit — twelve to fifteen per cent, per annum in 
excess of working expenses. ' High bars ' there are, too, prospecting rich, 
but'until some inexpensive method is discovered of raising, and utilizing for 
mining purposes, the water of Snake River, these spots must remain closed to 
the avarice of man. A patent motor has been devised for raising water by 
using the force of the river current, but experiment has failed bo demonstrate 
its economy, or to bring its price within the means of the moderately wealthy. 

" But it is not only the production of fruits, and the golden results of placer 
mining, that the Broadway of Idaho relies on to attract to her borders those 
energies necessary in the development of a hitherto terra incoi/nita. In 
the range of mountains through which our river cuts her way, forming here 
the western boundary of Washington County, are rich deposits of copper and 
silver, assays of which show from twenty-six to sixty-eight per cent, of 
copper, and from nine to one hundred and sixty-three ounces of silver per 
ton. This region is now brought into communication with the rest of the 
United States by the railroad system rendered available by the meeting of lue 
Oregon Short Line and the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company's lines. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 41 

The Wood River country has proved an immense silver success; but it is pre- 
dicted that the copper region of Western Idaho will largely exceed it in bring- 
ing material prosperity to those of limited means coining in to work the 
bowels of the earth for the riches to be extracted therefrom. To such, Idaho 
must look in large measure for the permanence of her prosperity, and it is 
with a view of attracting their attention to our Territory that this is written." 

A. D. Foote, Esq., the well-known mining expert and engineer of the 
Idaho Mining and Irrigation Company, writes of the Snake River placers : 

"I have spent a great deal of time and labor prospecting these placer 
fields, and confess that the results obtained are beyond my expectations. I 
sunk shafts where the gravel was not so loose as to prevent me, ran tunnels 
into the sides of bars where I could not sink shafts, dug numerous prospect 
holes, tried gravel in ant-hills, and also that which is brought to tli£ surface 
by badgers or gophers, in order to get as nearly as possible an accurate idea of 
the quantity and value of these immense auriferous deposits of gravel. I took 
accurately measured half cubic yards of gravel, washed it with rocker and pan, 
saving black sand and gold. The results of several of these tests accompany 
this report. Some of them I assayed, and several I smelted. The results 
obtained by assays varied from a few cents to eighty cents per cubic yard of 
gravel; assays made from the same samples by different assayers varying 
largely, while the gold obtained by the pan would be about the same in each 
instance. It is difficult to account for this great variation in the results of 
assays ; but I find it is the experience of every one who deals with black sand." 

The Castle Creek Mining Company's property (office, No. 58 Broadway, 
New York) is situated on the south side of Snake River, about eighteen miles 
above the Silver City ferry. Its water supply is taken from Castle Creek 
and is very limited, except during a short time in the spring. It uses only 
one flume, essentially similar to one (described further on) used by Mr. 
Chesebro. Their bank of gravel is from fifteen to thirty feet thick. The 
water is simply run over the face of the bank without pressure, and carrying 
the gravel down into the sluice. The company employ three men and a super- 
intendent. It has paid seventeen consecutive monthly dividends, of three 
thousand dollars each, and expects to continue them, there being no apparent 
reason why it should not, as the gravel and water are there in quantities suffi- 
cient to last a century at the company's present rate of working. 

Mr. John R. Murphy has investigated this property thoroughly, and 
says that the cost of mining is two and one quarter cents per cubic yard. 
From measurements carefully made before and after several months' washing, 
the value of gold saved from a cubic yard of gravel was found to be twenty- 
seven cents. 

The Holyoke Mining Company, at Bonanza Bar, is also a dividend-pay- 
ing property, though working on a small scale because of a small supply of 
water. Carefully made measurements prove the value of its gravel to be 
twenty-one cents per cubic yard. 

The Juniper Gold (placer) Mining Company, adjoining the Holyoke, is 
best deseribed by the following extract : 

"New York, February 6, 1883. 
"Juniper Gold Mining Company, New York City. 

" Gentlemen : In compliance with your request of the 2d inst., addressed 
to me by your secretary, requesting my views as to the character and value 
of your property on Snake River, I beg to submit the subjoined as covering 
the same. Respectfully yours, John R. Murphy. 

"In the interest of a few of my friends who were desirous to invest in 
the property, provided they could be assured that it was possessed of such 
merit as was claimed for it, I went to the mines on Snake River, in Idaho 
Territory, in September last, and made a very thorough examination of the 
same, devoting over thirty days to it. I found the area of the gravel to be 
quite correct, but in depth and quantity I found it to be fully one fourth more 
than is claimed in the company's prospectus. 

" The depth of the gravel beds I found bj^ actual survey to be from 
40 to 100 feet vertical; while the quantity in cubic yards I found to be 
fully fifteen per cent more than is claimed. 
4 



42 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 



"The quantity of gold-bearing gravel comprising this property is all 
that could be desired, as it cannot ali be worked out in seventy-five years,, 
using say 4,000 inches of water, washing continuously. 

"In the matter of value of a given quantity of the gravel, I have exer- 
cised the utmost care to ascertain how much it would pay to the cubic yard. 

" After 203 tests by pan-washing, and several others by a system of con- 
centration, making five assays of the concentrates, I satisfied myself that the 
gravel throughout this property will average forty-two cents to the cubic 
yard. 

"This value may seem high when it is understood that in California 
grr.vel that will yield five to eight cents per cubic yard is considered safe and 
profitable ; while that which goes from eight to twenty cents is considered 
extra valuable. 

"One difficulty, however, has heretofore stood in the way of saving a 
high percentage of the gold — that is, its extreme granular fineness ; but the 
experience of the past two years has enabled parties to devise moans by 
which from seventy-live to eighty-five per cent of the gold contained is being 
saved. 

' ' 1 have found the gold to be uniformly distributed throughout the 
whole mass of gravel, from bottom to top, there being no rich leads or pay 
streaks ; it is of like value at grass roots as at bed-rock." 

Mr. Murphy also says that his investigations on the Snake River prove 
conclusively that the gravel bars are richer on the lower part of the river than 
on the upper, and also that the gold is coarser in the lower bars. 

Near Silver City Ferry, on the south side of Snake River, Mr. Chesebro 
of Boise" City owns a bar which he works for a few months every spring with 
water brought from Reynolds Creek. His water supply is very small, and is 
simply run down the face of the bar without being confined in any way. He 
works three men, and says he averages about ten dollars per man per day in gold. 
He thinks the gravel contains from fifteen to twenty five cents per ton (two 
thirds of a cubic yard), but has made no tests to determine accurately. His 
gravel is precisely similar to that of this company. If there is any diiference, 
judging from panning out in both localities, I should say that the first twelve 
miles above Boise" River, on the north side of the Snake, was somewhat richer 
than the Chesebro claim. » 

The cost of washing a cubic yard of gravel in the large hydraulic mines 
of California has been determined in several instances with great care, and 
averages about three and one half cents. From what I have already quoted 
of the mining experience on Snake River, it is certain that the Snake River 
bars can be washed more cheaply than the California mines. I wish to be 
absolutely safe in the following estimate, and shall allow four cents as the 
expense of mining a cubic yard. 

I have determined the area of the placer lands controlled by the company, 
assisted partially by the government lines and the surveyed line of canal 
to be between thirty-five and forty-five thousand acres. It is difficult to 
determine them precisely without an extensive system of shafts to prove their 
limit on the northern edge. I am perfectly safe, however, in placing their 
area at thirty-five thousand acres. In regard to the thickness or depth of 
the gravel, I could only determine it by the thickness disclosed at the sides 
or faces of the bluffs. Often I could get on three sides, and there is no reason 
to suppose that a great flat plain, which shows stratified gravel seventy-five 
feet thick on three sides, is any less in the center. These bars run from twenty 
to one hundred and fifty fset thick, as seen from their sides, averaging at least 
fifty feet. 

Supposing, however, that they are only twenty-seven feet thick, then 
eacli square foot of surface will give a cubic yard of gravel, or forty-three 
thousand five hundred and sixty cubic yards to the acre, and thirty-five 
thousand acres make a little over fifteen hundred million cubic yards of gravel. 

As I have shown, several placer mines on the river yield from twenty to 
thirty cents in each cubic yard of gravel. Although this gravel is precisely 
like the gravel of those mines, I prefer to value it at twelve cents per cubic 
yard, and as I before said, allow the cost to be four cents for mining, leaving 
eight cents profit for the company on each cubic yard of its gravel. Fifteen 



/ 

RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 43 

hundred million cubic yards at eight cents per yard makes the enormous sum of 
one hundred and twenty million dollars, which is the profit to be realized from 
the company's placer lands at the low valuation and high cost of mining which 
I have used as a basis for my estimate. It is approximately a profit of thirty- 
five hundred dollars per acre. 

The above profit will not appear so very large when the time necessary to 
obtain it is realized. There is a practical limit to the rapidity with which this 
gravel can be washed. By the system of washing which is described farther 
on, the lands can be attacked at a number of different points at the same 
time. Say five points were taken, and four thousand inches of water used at 
each, or twenty thousand per day. For two hundred days in the year this . 
would amount to four million inches. 

An inch of water will in this loose gravel wash ten to twelve cubic yards; 
but as an elevator will have to be used for a portion of the gravel, it is per- 
haps as well to take the amount given by Hamilton Smith, Jr., as washed in 
the hard-bottomed gravel of the North Bloomfield mine, viz., five cubic yards. 
Four million inches will wash at this rate twenty million cubic yards, or ap- 
proximately, five hundred acres; which at thirty-five hundred dollars per acre, 
would yield a yearly income of one million seven hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars, and require seventy years to exhaust the supply of gravel. 

Before going further, it is perhaps best to explain some of the methods in 
use on the river for saving gold, and also the methods which will be used in 
washing in this particular locality. 

Mr. Ohesebro's method consists of a flume thirty feet long and three feet 
wide, in which is secured a perforated sheet of iron, three feet wdde by sixteen 
long, four inches above the bottom of the flume. It is placed in the upper por- 
tion of the flume. The holes in it are about one quarter of an inch in diameter. 
At the upper end of the flame is fixed a wide-mouthed box, like a funnel lying 
horizontally, into which the water carries the gravel. In this case the water 
runs over the bank, and in its fall gathers headway enough to gradually bring 
the bank with it into the box; when the bank is washed away too far in one place, 
the direction of the water above the bank is changed, and another portion 
washed down. This portion of the work occupies two men. Water enough 
is thus passed into the flume to carry the gravel along it over the "grizzly." 
In passing over this the finer portion of the gravel and sand finds its way 
down through the " grizzly " into the space below, from which it is constantly 
drawn by a number of side flumes, or tables, set at right angles to the main 
flume. These are three feet wide and nine feet long. They are lined on the 
bottom with heavy canvas tacked down. This heavy canvas is of just sufficient 
roughness to catch the gold and heaviest black sand; the coarser and lighter 
material rolls over it and passes off as fine "tailings," while the still coarser 
material which has passed through the main flume is called the coarse tailings. 
At the head of the tables are gates on the main flume, which can be opened or 
closed when desired, and along one side of the table is a trough, just below the 
level of the table. After an hour's run the gate at the head of the table is 
closed, and the black sand and gold on the canvas carefully brushed into the 
trough, when the gate is opened and the next table cleared, and so on. 

The black sand thus obtained is, in Mr. Chesebro's method, treated with 
a little cyanide of potassium, to clean the gold, and then run slowly through 
another flume, or trough, on the bottom of which are silver-plated copper 
plates covered with quicksilver. This collects the gold in the shape of *amal- 
gam, which is scraped off occasionally and retorted. 

Mr. Chesebro himself says, and I agree with him, that there are far better 
ways of amalgamating the gold than the method he uses, especially on a large 
scale, where there is cheap water power. Two Cornishmen at work on the 
river near Glenn's Ferry have hit upon the idea in a crude and cheap way. 
They have built a small arrastra, run by water power, in which they put their 
black sand and quicksilver. An arrastra is simply a circular pit paved with 
stone, in which a large stone is dragged around on the pavement, as a horse goes 
around in a whim. It is the crude idea from which the amalgamating pan of 
the modern silver-mill is evolved. In working the black sand of these plac^"* 
on a large scale, something similar to the amalgamating pan will be U3c!, 
changing it sufficiently to adapt it to the different material and work required. 



44. RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

Placer mining in California has been seriously checked, if not ruined, by 
the accumulation of tailings in the rivers and on the lands below. In the 
case under consideration, there is no danger of anything of the kind happening, 
as the company proposes to send only a very small portion of its tailings into 
the river. 

In addition to the Snake River gold-fields above described, the placers 
now receiving the most attention are those of Boise" Basin, Salmon Paver and 
its tributaries, and the Cceur d'Alene. The last named will be found described 
in the article on Shoshone County. 

The precious metals are not the only minerals found in Idaho. Copper 
■ ores abound in different sections. The copper mines of Washington County 
now attract much attention. They will be found more fully described in the 
article on that county. Near Rocky Bar, in Alturas County, is a vein carry- 
ing fifty-six per cent pure iron. Other veins have been found near Wood 
River carrying a large percentage of iron. Near Challis, in Custer County, is 
said to be an immense body of micaceous iron, yielding fifty to sixty per cent 
of that metal. Near South Mountain, in Owyhee County, is the great Narra- 
gansett iron mine, showing an immense vein. There is a solid body of mag- 
netic and specular iron, carrying as high as ninety-five to ninety-eight per 
cent pure iron. .There is also a fifteen-foot vein of hematite near by, very 
rich in iron, carrying also $30 per ton gold. There are also valuable iron de- 
posits in the neighborhood of Lewiston. 

St. Charles mining district, in the eastern edge of Idaho, near the Oregon 
Short Line, is said to contain copper ore assaying sixty to eighty per cent., 
and native copper of great purity. The copper deposit can be traced for 
thirty-five miles. Along the south-western edge of Camas Prairie is an ex- 
tensive network of copper veins, from one to six feet in thickness, their ores con- 
taining about forty per cent copper. Near Brownlee's Ferry, 120 miles north 
of Boise City, are several large veins running sixty per cent, copper. There 
are many other copper deposits in Alturas and Custer counties. 

^The coal deposits have not been developed to any great extent. Near 
Goose Creek, in Cassia County, a species of coal has been found, and it is 
claimed that bituminous coal can be found in apparently inexhaustible quan- 
tities along Bear Lake. Coal mines have also been opened at Smith's Fork 
and on Twin Creeks. The Mammoth mine shows a vein seventy feet thick 
of clear coal, which with adjacent veins, separated by their veins of clay, will 
aggregate 200 feet in thickness. A good quality of lignite has been found 
near Boise, bituminous at Horseshoe Bend, twenty miles from Bois6, also be- 
tween the Payette and Weiser and at the Big Bend of Snake River. A good 
blacksmi thing coal has been found on Sucker Creek, and some in north 
Idaho. 

A description of an inexhaustible salt mine will be found in the article 
on Oneida County. 

Marble has long been known to exist in the valley of the Snake. The 
marble bluffs in the vicinity of Bonanza Bar, sixteen miles below American 
Falls, have come into possession of the Union Pacific Railway Company, and 
it is said that there will be a track laid soon from the Oregon Short Line to 
the quarries. This marble has been known for years to be of good, market- 
able quality, but nothing was attempted towards its utilization until recently. 
The Union Pacific mineralogist and geologist some time ago took samples of 
the marble to Omaha, and it is found to be of a quality hardly second to the 
best Italian. The talk is that machinery will be put up for quarrying and 
sawing the marble and putting it in marketable shape. Large deposits of 
white and variegated marble are found along the Clearwater, and also in 
Kootenai and Cassia counties. Sandstone of superior quality is found in 
Nez Perc6 County. Granite and sandstone abound of the finest quality, 
white, pink, gray, and other shades, easily quarried and worked into any 
desirable shape. 

Near Wieser River, in Washington County, are two ledges of mica, eight 
to ten feet wide each. Clear merchantable sheets four by six inches in size 
can be extracted in vast quantities. Deposits of mica are also found in 
Kootenai County near Lake Pend d'Oreille, and also near Lewiston in Nez 
Perc6 County. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 



45 



The following reports of minerals mined and not mined in Idaho were pre- 
pared by Mr. Albert Williams, Jr., of the U. S. Geological Survey : 

Ores, Minerals, and Mineral Substances of Industrial Importance, 
Which are at Present Mined. 



Mineralogical 
name. 



A nglesite (argen- 
tiferous) 

Argentite 

Ar s e n o p 3 r r i t o 
(auriferous) 

Azurite 

Calcite 

Cerargyrite 

Cervantite 

Cerussite (argen- 
tiferous) 

Chalcopyrite 

(auriferous.) 

Dufrenoysite 

Freiberg ite 

Galenite (ar- 
gentiferous). ... 

Gold, native 



Common name. 



Hematite.... 
Limonite.. .. 
Malachite... 
Marcasite.... 
Proustite .... 

PyrargjTite 



Pyrite (aurifer- 
ous) 



Silver, native, 

Sphalerite 

Stephanite... . 

Stibnite 

Tetrahedrite . 



Sulphate of lead 

Silver glance 

Mispickel 

Blue carbonate of copper 

Limestone 

Horn silver, " chloride".. 

Antimony ocher 

Carbonate of lead, " car- 
bonate " 

Copper pyrites 

Clay (common brick) 

Clay (fire) 

Sulpharsenide of lead 

Argentif. tetrahedrite 

Galena 

Gold 



Iron ore „ 

Iron ore 

Green carb . of copper 

"White pyrites 

Light ruby silver, arsen- 
ical ruby 

Dark ruby silver, anti- 
monial ruby , 

Iron sulphurets , 

Sandstone 

Silver 

Zincblende 

Brittle silver 

Sulphide of antimony 

Fahlerz 



Remarks. 



Wood River County ; in surface ores of some of the 
argentiferous lead mines. 

Silver City, Owyhee County; Tahoma Mine, At- 
lanta, Alturas County ; and elsewhere. 

Notably at Rocky Bar, nardscrabble, Granite, 
Yuba, and Shaw's Mountain Districts ; but fre- 
quent in many other localities. 

Lemhi County, Alturas County. 

Used as flux and burned for lime. 

Many mines of Owyhee County; surface ore of 
Monarch Lode, Atlanta, Alturas County. 

Small quanties in surface lead ores of Wood River 
country. 

Wood River and neighboring districts* 

In many gold mines. 

Boise City. 

Of poor quality ; refractory furnace linings com- 
monly brought from Santa Cruz, California. 

Crown Point Mine, Banner District. 

Columbia, Pilgrim, and other mines, Sawtooth Dist. 

Important deposits in Wood River country, Al- 
turas County, and in Lemhi County. 

Deep placers in Boise Basin, Boise County; placer 
gold is found along many of the streams through- 
out the Territory, and in the Snake River; 
hydraulic mining in many scattered districts, 
quartz gold in Yankee Fork, Mount Estes, Gran- 
ite, Rocky Bar, Bonaparte, Atlanta, Red War- 
rior, Canon Creek, Shaw's Mountain, Silver City, 
Florence, Warrens, Wagontown, and other dis- 
tricts; crystallized specimens from Gold Hill mine; 
Granite District, Boise County, particularly fine. 

Used as flux. 

Used as flux. 

Lemhi County. 

In some gold mines. 

Notably in Monarch and Buffalo mines, Atlanta ; 
associated with pyrargyrite in Sawtooth and 
other districts. 

Atlanta District, Monarch, Tahoma, Jessie Benton, 
Buffalo, and other mines; Sawtooth District; 
Smiley's Basin. 

In many gold mines, notably in Granite and Yuba 
Districts. 

Fine varieties of red and gray freestone near Boise 
City. 

Atlanta District. 

Auriferous at Bonaparte mine. 

Custer and unknown mines, Yankee Fork ; also in 
Queen's River District, and reported elsewhere. 

In argentiferous lead mines of Wood River. 

Obscure, but probably frequent with antimonial 
and arsenical silver ores. 



46 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 



Ores, Minerals, and Mineral Substances of Industrial Importance and 
Known Occurrence, but Which are not at Present Mined. 



Mineralogical 
name. 


Common name. 


Remarks. 


Arsenopyrite 
(auriferous).... 


Mispickel 


In many mines which are unproductive because 




of the absence of proper reduction works. 




Blue carbonate of copper 


With other copper ores in many unworked depos- 
its, as in Lemhi Custer, and Alturas counties. 


Bismuthinite 


Sulphate of bismuth 


Reported. 


Calcite 


Marble 


Reported, 


Cerargyrite 

Cerussite., 






Carbonate of lead 




Chalcopyrite 






Cuprite^ « - 


Dolomite 




Erubescite 


Variegated copper ore.... 




Gold...... 


Galena 


Many unworked deposits. 

Many unworked deposits. 

Principal country rock of central Idaho, Often 6 
good building-stone, but unused. 


Gold 




Granite. .„.. „.„ . 


Halite...„ 


Salt „ 


In South-eastern Idaho. 


Hematite 


Iron ore 






Coal 


Owyhee, Ada, and Boise counties. 


Limonite 


Iron ore 




Malachite 


Green carbonate of cop- 


Many localities. 






(See Arsenopyrite,) 


Molybdenite 


Sulphide of molybdenum 


Reported. 


Muscovite 




Fine specimens of lai'ge sheets at Payette Biver 






and near Boise City. Samples have been 
shipped. 




Light ruby silver.... 




Pyrargyrite 


Dark ruby silver 




Pyrite (aurifer- 






Pyrolusite 




Shaw's Mountain.. 


Sphalerite 


Zincblende, "black 


Never worked except as accidental component of 
precious metal ores. 

(See remark on Sphalerite.) 


Stibnite 

1 


Sulphide of antimony 



At Soda Springs in Oneida County is a mountain of almost pure sulphur 
running to eighty -live per cent. 



RESOURCES OF IDA BO. 



47 



For a more detailed description of the different mining' localities, the 
reader is referred to the articles on the respective counties. Alturas, Custer, 
Lemhi, and Shoshone counties are at present the scenes of most active min- 
ing operations. Owyhee and Idaho counties have been most productive in 
former years, and still continue to send forth, their regular output of precious 
metals. Each of the last named has plenty of ledges that have never yet 
been developed. Washington and Kootenai counties are rapidly coming to 
the front as ore producers. The remaining counties being chiefly agricultural, 
their mining interests have as yet attracted comparatively little attention. 

^The following table shows the estimated production of the precious met- 
als in Idaho since first discovery : 



Year. 



Amount Produced. Tear. 



1862 $5,000,000 00 

1863 7,448,400 91 

1864 9,019,704 30 

1865 12,914,364 25 

1866 10,001,850 44 

1867 7,388,064 31 

1868 3,030,213 56 

1809 1,613,453 68 

1870 2,239,190 61 

1871 2,219,937 94 

1872 2,675,192 00 

1873 3,653,605 15 



Amount Produced. 



1874 $3,100,447 GO 

1875 1,983,720 27 

1876 2,267,013 36 

1877.... 3,474,787 69 

1878 2,657,216 91 

1879 2,533,634 58 

1880 l,63+,637 19 

1881 4,915,100 00 

1882 5,500,000 00 

1888 5,000,000 00 

1884 (estimated) 6,500,000 00 



Total production of Idaho mines , 



,$106,790,530 14 



CHAPTER V.-FARMING AND STOCK-RAISING. 



While it is chiefly as a mining territory that Idaho is known to the out- 
side world, yet it is not upon her mineral resources alone that she depends. 
In a region covered by such a vast area as is included within her boundaries, 
traversed by mountain ranges formed of rocks of all kinds and'ages, there is 
necessarily a great variety of soil. For the sake of convenience, her soils 
have been divided into four classes, as follows : 

1. Alkali Soil. This is of limited extent, producing greasewood, which 
cattle eat readily, particularly the young shoots. The cause of alkaline soils 
is now generally well understood. The rain which falls during the wet season 
penetrates deeply into the earth, where it gradually takes up such soluble 
salts as it encounters there. By capillary action this water always tends to 
diffuse itself throughout the loose materials which makeup the overlying soils. 
As fast as it is evaporated at the surface, more water from below rises by 
capillary action to take its place. The water which may have accumulated 
beneath has gradually risen by percolation through the interstices of the uncon- 
solidated materials of the soil, bringing with it whatever soluble salts it may 
have taken into solution during its sojourn beneath the surface. "There is no 
difficult}'-, however," says Captain C. E. Dutton of the United States Geolog- 
ical Survey, " in removing any quantity of these readily soluble salts from 
the soil, provided the leaching process be continued long enough ; and 
it is usually found that lands which were originally highly alkaline become, 
when reclaimed from their alkalinity, among the most fertile." 

2. Mountain Soil. This soil is exceedingly rich, especially in the wooded 
sections, where it is black, deep, and full of vegetable mold. 



48 RESOUECES OP IDAHO. 

3. Plain and plateau soil, which contains all the elements for the success- 
ful growth of all the cereals, containing a great amount of vegetable mold. 

4. Valley soil, which, according to Professor Butler, " cannot be excelled 
in any other State or Territory in the Union. It contains, indeed, the aggre- 
gated and condensed richness of vast areas of vegetable growth that have been 
accumulating for ages on the sides of the mountains skirting the valleys. An 
analysis of this soil shows it to be pre-eminently rich in all the mineral and 
vegetable elements necessary to the growth of all the cereals, vegetables, 
fruits, etc., etc., usually grown within the limits of the Territory. It is of 
good depth, is invariably found to superpose a gravelly soil, and is so inclined 
that perfect drainage can readily and effectively be had. Thermal springs are so 
abundant that it is no uncommon thing for the farmer to be supplied with warm 
and cold water direct from the mountain side. The mountains being high and 
not very precipitous, the valleys are generally well protected from the cold 
winds, and in the hollows or gulches wood grows plentifully, and yields a 
supply of fuel and fencing for the home and farm necessities, and an abundant 
and grateful shade for stock." 

The northern portion of the Territory, included between the Clearwater 
and the British Possessions, is chiefly mountainous, interspersed with prairie 
lands and a number of lakes, some of them of exquisite beauty. Along the 
shores of these lakes and in the river bottoms are good arable lands. 

The region between the Boise" River and the Clearwater consists of table 
lands naturally rich in grasses, heavily timbered mountains and fertile valleys. 
The best known of these are the Clearwater, Salmon, Payette, Weiser, and 
Boise\ These valleys are all well watered, possessing extraordinary fertility of 
soil. With the aid of irrigation these lands produce abundant crops of cereals, 
as well as the fruits and vegetables of the Middle States. There is sufficient 
timber to contribute to the salubrity and humidity of the climate. 

Between Boise* Valley and the southern boundary line there are fertile 
valleys traversing sagebrush plains and table lands. The proportion of timber 
in this region is small, being confined chiefly to the lines of streams and moun- 
tain sides. Three fourths of this vast surface is capable of reclamation by 
irrigation, and will produce abundant crops. In the south-west section of this 
district are several fertile valleys tributary to the Owyhee. In the south-east 
section among others are the upper end of Cache Valley, which produces all 
kinds of cereals and vegetables, and Malade Valley, fifty miles long by from 
three to four miles wide. The last-named is a fine, fertile valley, containing 
several farming settlements. It contains 175 square miles of irrigable land. 
The valley is flat, and though the streams have but slight fall, still, as the 
benches are everywhere low, the water can be taken out all over the valley. 
Bear Lake Valley contains about 275 square miles of tillable land. It extends 
in a broad belt on both sides of the river southward from Soda Springs for 
fifteen miles, when the river is forced into a narrow caiion, but begins again at 
Georgetown and extends up the lake. In the valleys of the Blackfoot and its 
branches there is much valuable land. Professor Gannett estimates that prob- 
ably 175 square miles of the Blackfoot Basin can be made productive. 

In southern Idaho irrigation is generally necessary. So far from being a 
drawback, however, the farmer has now come to regard this fact as an ad- 
vantage. Crops thus cultivated are not subject to the vicissitudes of rainfall ; 
the possibilities of drought are avoided ; the farmer's labors are seldom inter- 
rupted, and his crops rarely injured by storms. This immunity from drought 
and storm renders agricultural operations much more certain than in the east- 
ern States. Again,, the water comes down from the mountains and plateaus 
freighted with fertilizing materials derived from the decaying vegetation and 
soils of the upper regions, which are spread by the flowing water over culti- 
vated lands. It is probable that the benefits derived from this source alone 
will be full compensation for the cost of the process. Experience will correct 
the errors occasionally resulting from permitting too great or too rapid a flow 
of water, and the irrigator soon learns to flood his lands gently, even 1 .}', and 
economically. " It may be anticipated," says Professor Powell, " that all the 
lands redeemed by irrigation in the arid region will be highly cultivated and 
abundantly productive, and agriculture will be. but slightly subject to the 
vicissitudes of scant and excessive rainfall. A stranger entering this arid 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 49 

region is apt to cor.clude that the soils are sterile, because of their chemical 
composition ; but experience demonstrates the fact that all the soils are suit- 
able for agricultural purposes when properly supplied with water." 

Boise Valley, especially in the neighborhood of Boise" City, affords an 
excellent example of the truth of the foregoing. Within twenty years a 
barren sage-brush plain has been transformed into a paradise. Trees and 
shrubbery adorn the streets and gardens. Orchards bending beneath the 
burden of their fruit, fields of waving grain, gardens producing every variety 
of crops, are on all sides. The larger and smaller fruits, perfect in form and 
flavor, and the mammoth vegetables whose characteristic flavors are not 
affected by their size, surpass the much-extolled products of California. Dur- 
ing the past season Boise" Valley has supplied not only her home market and 
Wood River; but also the neighboring territory, v*ith her fruits. Official fig- 
ures show that out of a total of 433,435 pounds of fresh fruit received at Butte, 
Montana, this season, up to November 1st, 253,430 pounds were from Boise" 
Valley, the remainder being from California, Missouri River, Utah, and Port- 
land. J. A. Munroe, Esq., acting general freight agent of the Union Pacific, 
in referring to this circumstance, writes : "I am satisfied in my own mind, 
that the business of the Boise Valley in the fruit line this year is but the 
commencement of a better and more prosperous business each year to come." 

From November 1st, up to which date the above figures are given, an 
additional 150,000 pounds of apples have been shipped to Butte from this val- 
ley, making in all over 400,000 pounds of fruit contributed by Boise" Valley to 
the single mining camp of Butte. 

Immediately south of Boise" City, Mr. Thomas Davis has an orchard of 
some 10,000 apple trees which have produced this season an immense quantity 
of the choicest fruit ever grown in any country in the world. The orchard is 
about twenty years old, and in excellent condition, except that the super- 
abundance of the yield this year broke down the limbs of some of the younger 
trees. Since the apples began to ripen, men with carts have been constantly 
engaged in gathering the fruit carefully and assorting it for the market. 

Preparatory to shipment the apples are packed in fifty-pound boxes. 
They readily find a market in all parts of Idaho and adjoining States and 
Territories. No less than 250,000 pounds of this fruit have already been sent 
by rail to various parts of the North-west, and Mr. Davis still has as many 
stored away in a three-story building, specially prepared for the purpose, on 
his premises, and shipments continue to be made almost daily. Apples boxed 
and shipped net about $1.25 per hundred pounds, so we may safely calculate 
that the fruit already disposed of and that yet in store will bring Mr. Davis a 
clear $6,250. Besides this, he has 150 barrels of vinegar, 20,000 pounds of 
choice dried apples, and a considerable quantity of pears and cider. Alto- 
gether this year the net profit derived from this sample orchard will reach a 
handsome $10,000. This is only a sample of what Idaho is doing in the way 
of producing fruit which is everywhere pronounced of superior quality and 
delicious flavor. 

Lest the reader may think this an exceptional instance, he is referred to 
the article on Ada County, for a more complete description of the agricultural 
resources of this section. 

The area formed by the junction of the Bois6, Payette, Weiser, and Owy- 
hee valleys is a vast agricultural region. In the immense basin formed by the 
confluence of Idaho's great rivers is a compact body of farming lands millions 
of acres in extent — the largest agricultural area between the g.reat prairies 
and the plains of the Columbia. In soil, climate, and facilities for irrigation 
it is unsurpassed. It is mainly the rich, warm loam that produces sage-brush 
to perfection in its natural i-tate, and all the cereals, fruits, and vegetables of 
this latitude when cultivated. There are acres upon acres of apples, plums, 
pears, peaches, and small fruits, and alongside of them, almost as far as the 
eye can reach, are stretches of wild farming lands awaiting claimants and cul- 
tivation. It is not unusual for immigrants to locate on wild lands in these 
valleys, put up comfortable houses, good barns, good fences, etc., and pay for 
all such improvements with the first year's crop of potatoes, or other vege- 
tables taken from only a small portion of their farms. The fact that Idaho 
farmers were, as a rule, very poor when they embarked in business a few 



55 ... 


... 40 ... 


. . , 250 . . . 


...35 


31 ... 




. . . 95 . . . 


...30 


3a ... 


. . . 23 . . . 


... 114 ... 


...34 


31 ... 


. . . 23 . . . 






31 ... 


. . . 23 . . . 


... 69 ... 


...26 



50 RESOURCES OE IDAHO. 

years ago, and that they are now generally well off, and have fine buildings 
and the best improvements, with large herds of stock, are proof that this is a 
lucrative pursuit. 

The cereals do almost as well in Idaho as the fruits. Oats yield fifty-five 
bushels per acre ; wheat, thirty bushels ; rye, twenty- five bushels ; potatoes, 
250 bushels. The truth is, Idaho is one of the best grain-producing regions in 
the United States, and in proof of this statement I submit the following 
official table of the yield per acre : 

Wheat. . Rye. Oats. Barley. Potatoes. Corn, 

Idaho 30 25 

Nevada 12 

California 17 15 

Oregon 21 14 

Eastern States 13 15 

In one case fifty-four pounds of wheat were produced from a single square 
rod, being at the rate of 140 bushels to the acre. The wheat produced in this 
instance has been called "Idaho white wheat," and is thought to be supe- 
rior. It matures from fall or spring sowing ; is white, beardless, and heavy, 
and produces a large proportion of flour. 

The mountain slopes of Idaho are watered by abundant streams, and 
checkered with alternate tracts of forest and rich prairie. Even in the least 
favored regions are localities adapted to specific branches of agricultural 
enterprise. These will ultimately be occupied by a thrifty farming popula- 
tion. 

In north Idaho crops are raised without irrigation. The precipitation of 
moisture on the mountains is said to be greater than on the lowlands, but the 
hills and mesas adjacent to the great masses of mountains receive some of the 
supply condensed by the mountains themselves, and the lands have been 
found to be favored by this condition to an extent sufficient to warrant agri- 
cultural operations independent of irrigation. There are about 1,000,000 
acres of prairie land in north Idaho, between the Coeur d'Alene Indian reser- 
vation and the Salmon River. 

North Palouse, Genesee, Paradise, and Potlatch valleys, in Nez Perce 1 
County, are rapidly filling up with an intelligent and thrifty farming popula- 
tion. In the neighborhood of Lewiston fruits and vegetables of ail kinds are 
raised in perfection. Peach trees have been known to bloom there in Febru- 
ary. Lewiston and Moscow are the two chief distributing points for this vast 
agricultural area. The following yields of grain in the neighborhood of Mos- 
cow have been furnished us, and can be vouched for as correct. On the farm 
of Mr. M. W. Smith, on Ceder Creek, 200 bushels of wheat (machine meas- 
ure) were threshed from two and one-half acres of measured ground. R. B. 
Hogan threshed 3,000 bushels of oats from thirty-four acres of ground on the 
farm of O. S. Cochran, near Kamiack Butte. B. Maxer, who also lives near 
Kamiack Butte, threshed 812 bushels of oats from nine acres of ground. 
Potatoes raised in the Palouse soil, known as the " Palouse Beauty, " weigh") 
frequently over four pounds. A single potato vine measured ten feet in 
length. The laterals, together with the main stalk, measured just 304 feet 
six inches. The production of flax is also becoming an important industry in 
north Idaho. The first crop was sown in 1878, and yielded from twenty to 
twenty-five bushels to the acre. Near Genesee, at M. Hensen's ranch, thirty- 
two bushels ai-e raised to the acre. Last year it was worth $1.02 per bushel. 

South of the Clearwater is also an area of agricultural land quite as rich 
and extensive as that to the northward. It is claimed to be preferable, as its 
altitude is lower, its climate more genial ; it is well watered by running 
streams and ever-living springs ; the grasses and native vegetation grow 
spontaneously and with tropical luxuriance on its prolific soil ; it is within 
easy distance of the markets of the world, and accessible at all seasons. 
"With all these advantages," writes a gentleman familiar with that section, 
"it is a country given over to the loneliness of desolation. With an area 
and a soil capable of supporting a dense population, it is as unproductive as 
the desert. Where should be homes of American freemen, the virgin soil 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 



51 



cries in vain for the plow. Where towns and cities should be built, no living 
tiling greets the eye. All this vast region of three-quarters of a million of 
acres which should support a dense population, is lying as uninhabited and 
uproductive as upon the day of creation." 



STOCK-RAISING. 

It is in no spirit of disparagement to other sections of the north-west that 
we assert that Idaho to-day offers the best inducements for the stock-grower. 
The area of grazing lands is practically unlimited, being from twenty to 
twenty-five millions of acres. Her plains are covered with indigenous grasses 
of nutritious quality, affording unsurpassed facilities for stock-raising. The 
canons in the lower valleys often afford the shelter necessary for wintering 
stock, while the pastures, covered with snow but for a portion of the year, 
present a cheap and effective subsistence. The grass drying on the stalk is 
naturally cured into hay of a superior quality. Stockmen reserve their lower 
meadows for winter pastures, while during the milder portions of the year the 
stock range on the higher lands. The great extent of the table lands and the 
adaptability of the bottom lands to cultivation have suggested the economic 
value of this method. The natural and long-continued dryness of the at- 
mosphere, summer and winter; the inexhaustible and wonderfully nutritious 
grasses which cure as they grow, making them as sustenance for animals 
almost equal to the feeding of hay and grain ; the in frequency of snow or 
other storms during the year; the warm breezes from the Pacific ; the ability 
of stock to live without shelter and take care of themselves prove Idaho to be 
one of the best stock-growing regions in the world. 

In Owyhee and Ada counties, and all along the Snake for 400 miles, 
as well as in northern Idaho, are vast and only partially occupied cattle ranges, 
where the fortunate few who are already established are on a sure road to for- 
tune. Dairying is also a lucrative pursuit. Dairymen in Boise" and Lemhi 
valleys contract their butter the year round at the uniform price of fifty 
cents per pound. 

The cost of keeping cattle on the range varies from fifty cents to one dol- 
lar per head, according to the size of the herd. In some of the higher valleys, 
winter feeding is followed to a slight extent, which, of course, increases the 
expense. The loss of cattle does probably not much exceed three or four per 
cent. "Great and lucrative as mining has proved and is proving," says Govern- 
or Bunn, "stock-raising is destined to play a still greater part in our history. 
The advantages of stock-raising in Idaho are manifold and manifest. I need 
not point out to you the twenty-five millions of acres of grazing lands covered 
with white sage and other herbs and nutritious grasses that make such 
superior food for stock, within our borders ; or that where there are desert 
lands the ringer of God has directed streams to flow, to make them reclaim- 
able." 

A territorial cattle-growers' association has been recently organized for the 
purpose of protecting the interests of stock-growers in the territory. Its sec- 
retary, Mr. W. C. B. Allen, of Shoshone, presents the following estimate of 
the number of cattle in Idaho at present: 

Owyhee County 50,000 

Cassia " 

Alturas " 

Oneida " 

Bear Lake " 

Ada " 

Total 



50,000 
50,000 


Washington County 
Boise " 


.... 15,000 
10,000 


50,000 


Custer " 


25,000 


50,000 
25,000 
20,000 


Other counties .^. . . . 


, , . 15,000 
. . . , 50,000 



360,000 



The probability is that this estimate is below rather than above the 
actual amount. In Bear Lake County, for instance, there are probably double 
the number here credited. (See report from that county. ) Even assuming 
the number in the Territory to be 400,000, there is still room enough on the 
vast ranges along Snake lliver, Lost River, Pahsimmari, Salmon River, and 
Owyhee mountains, and Camas Prairies for many times that number. 



52 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 



The followii.g tables of farming and live-stock interests in Idaho are taken 
from the census of 1880. Though these figures should probably be more than 
doubled to represent the present condition, yet the reader will readily per- 
ceive what an insignificant portion of the agricultural and grazing lands are 
taken up, and how vast is the area of these lands simply awaiting settlement 
and occupancy. 

Farm Areas and Farm Values, 1880. 



. . 












: 










s- 


CD . 

*2 >> 




CD 


value of al 
ductions sold 
d, or on hand 


Counties. 




13 

a 

<3 


o 'd 

a a 

a § 


ft H 

Sd 

6C-d 

aa 




•*^ 
to 

i 


5°*" 

23 








s a 


«w d 




C *H 


_j O CD . 






- T3 

CD 
> 




. °3 

O j§ 


O 


•° 60 


ts ,-. a -2 




to 

a 

u 

OS 


O 
U 

Pi 


jz co a 


CD d 

la 


CD 

a 

'si 


3 

•rH 


3 ^ 5 t! 




' . fr 


M 


t> 


> 


>■ 





W 


Ada 


256 

90 

1C9 


62,842 

919 

11,004 


800.475 

28,950 

138,050 


84,545 

3,225 

23,380 


522,264 
11,870 
81,731 


42,400 
1,685 
5,620 


517,809 


Alturas 


34,550 




52,805 




64 


4.444 


116,050 


12,710 


71,079 


5,080 


97,6 4 


Cassia 


14:3 


7,336 


110,900 


15,963 


106,319 


10,675 

19,904 
2,179 


44,122 


Idaho 


155 

20 


22,830 
1,'CO 


254,225 

14,290 


30,370 
2,877 


170,838 
7,117 


140,816 




8,030 




83 


17,7.0 


135,850 


18,460 


164,460 


13,875 


110.93) 




258 


18,992 


516,460 


70,240 


260,007 


27,430 


210,600 




422 


30,148 


359,890 


63,785 


349,588 


27,205 


117.315 


( wyhee 


66 


4,897 


in wo 


12.865 


237,4^5 


2,982 


64/95 




5 


699 


] -2,1 00 


830 


6,250 


2.210 


5,6 




149 


13,846 


198,650 


24,680 


257,812 


14,392 


110,318 


The Territory . . 


1,885 


197,407 


2,832,890 


303,930 


2,246,800 


176,237 


1,515,3:4 



Live-stock and its Productions, 1880. 



Counties^ 



Ada 

Alturas 

B ar Lake 

Boise . ... 

Cassia 

Id-ho 

Kootenai 

Lemhi 

Nez Perce 

Oueida > 

Owyhee 

Shoshone 

Washington 

The Territory 



Horses. 



Number. 



4,904 
181 
920 
589 

1,844 

3,088 
75 
1,0,7 
3,852 
3,103 

1,976 
69 

2,593 



24,300 



Live-stock. 



Mules and 
asses. 



Number. 



148 
33 
30 
36 

87 

20 
6 
53 
28 
81 

43 



40 



610 



Working 
oxen. 



Number. 



112 

10 

57 

7 

241 

20 

8 

48 

55 

123 

10 



40 

737 



Milch cows. 



Number. 



2,204 
166 

1,117 
331 
553 

1,162 

77 

860 

1,559 

2,156 

1,750 

58 

8:;9 



12,838 



Other cattle. 



Number. 



20,367 

593 

1.454 

1,689 

2,697 

5,606 

42 

6,696 

4,557 

11,843 

12,332 

318 

3 01)8 

71,292 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 



53 



Live-stock and its Productions, 1880 — Continued. 





Live-stock— Cont'd. 


Wool. 


Dairy Pkoducts. 


Counties. 


Sheep. 


Swine. 


Milk. 
Gallons. 


Butter. 


Cheese. 




Number. 


Number. 


Pounds. 


Pounds. 


Pounds. 


Ada 


4,5.5 


3,171 

£5 

275 

843 

323 

2,252 

37 

262 

2,387 

717 

308 

107 

3,438 


14,900 


112 


69,482 
1,150 
28,685 
10,160 
13,200 

8,289 

1,520 

30 000 

27,823 

82,818 

20,900 

400 

16,217 


1,690 


Alturas 


5n0 


BoisS 


3,255 

1U2 

1,473 

3,988 
00 


13,639 

500 

9,565 

36,158 
300 

"41,676 * 

8,896 

21,600 


50 

800 

60 


4,805 




350 






Kootenai 






l,r>00 

10,175 

4C0 

2,480 


150 


K ez Perce 


7,814 
2,420 

3,600 




Oneida 


12,000 
200 










89 


521 


15,627 










27,326 


14,178 


127,149 


310,644 


20,295 





As it is the object of this chapter simply to give an outline of the agri- 
cultural and pastoral resources of the Territory, the reader is referred for 
more specific information particularly to the articles on Ada and Nez Perce" 
counties, though Oneida, Bear Lake, Cassia, and Washington are rapidly as- 
suming prominent positions among the agricultural counties. In Owyhee, 
mining is gradually being succeeded by stock-raising. Lemhi, Custer, Al- 
turas, and Idaho,, though known chiefly as mining counties, have each fine 
agricultural and pastoral areas. The two Camas prairies in Alturas and Idaho 
counties respectively, bid fair soon to become the granaries of Idaho ; Koote- 
nai, the northernmost county of the Territory, possesses some fine prairie lands 
capable of sustaining a large agricultural population. 



THE RECLAMATION OF DESERT LANDS. 

Governor Bunn, in his report to the Secretary of the Interior, said on 
this subject : 

"During the past year there has been a marked movement in this direc- 
tion, and within another year thousands upon thousands of acres of splendid 
arable land will be added to the already great area of the Territory. In a 
very few years an acreage greater than the whole State of Rhode Island will be 
reclaimed in the Snake River Valley alone, and changed from an arid, 
parched, and unsightly desert into rich and blooming agricultural lands, safe 
from drought or floods of rain. This happy condition is entirely attributable 
to the desert land act, which should not be, and I beg to express a hope will 
not be, changed. True it is, the act might be amended in some particulars 
that would redound to the general good, but if it were tinkered at, it would 
open the way toward a repeal or a radical change, which would be little 
less than a public calamity. * 

" Near Blackfoot, a canal is nearly finished that will reclaim between 
forty and fifty thousand acres. In Cassia County — along the south side of 
Snake River — Raft River, Goose Creek, and many smaller streams, are owned 
entirly by the Mormons, and used by them for irrigation purposes. At Sho- 
shone, in Alturas County, twenty-five miles north of Snake River, Little 
Wood River has been turned on the desert, and a thriving town, with its out- 
lying farms, has grown and is growing, where but two years ago was a sage- 
brush covered, desert plain. In the Bruneau Valley, some sixty thousand 
acres are already under cultivation, and a canal has been started to cover from 
twenty-five to thirty thousand acres more. In the Wood River Valley a 



64 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

canal has been constructed, and irrigates over twenty thousand acres, while 
below these now fruitful acres lie fifty thousand acres which will shortly be 
covered with water and cultivated. The Idaho Mining and Irrigating Com- 
pany, of New York, is constructing a canal with a capacity of four thousand 
cubic feet of water per second, which takes the water of the Boise" about 75 
miles above its confluence with Snake River. This- canal will irrigate and 
reclaim about 600,000 acres of land lying north of Snake River, and south of 
Boise" City. On the Payette River two canals are nearly completed, that will 
cover about fifty thousand acres, while a third is contemplated, that will 
reclaim thirty thousand acres more. On the Weiser there are about seventy- 
live thousand acres being brought under irrigating ditches, there being three 
or four different canals now building. In addition to the above, a plan is 
maturing to take the waters of Snake River and reclaim nearly two millions 
of acres of valley land. This, if carried into effect, will give Idaho land 
enough to supply the entire Pacific slope with cereals, fruits, and vegetables, 
iind make her the richest of the Territories." 



CHAPTER VI -COUNTIES OF IDAHO. 



There are at present fourteen organized counties within the Territory, as 
follows : Ada, Alturas, Bear Lake, Bois6, Cassia, Custer, Idaho, Kootenai, 
Lemhi, Nez Perce, Oneida, Owyhee, Shoshone, and Washington. Of these, 
Alturas, Bois<§, Caster, Idaho, Lemhi, Owyhee, and Shoshone maybe described 
as mining counties. Ada, Bear Lake, Cassia, Nez Perce\ Oneida, and Wash- 
ington are chiefly agricultural. Kootenai has both mining and agricultural 
resources, but at present is chiefly remarkable for its magnificent forests of 
timber. This classification is, at the best, only general, as the mining counties 
of Alturas, Lemhi, and Owyhee are rapidly receiving attention for farming 
and stock-raising, while those above mentioned as agricultural, notably 
Washington County, are beginning to produce considerable mineral. 

ADA COUNTY. 

Though one of the smallest in size, Ada is the most thickly settled county 
of Idaho. Her valleys are the most highly cultivated, and her farms, or- 
chards, and vineyards present a sight that recalls the landscapes of California. 

The valleys of Boise" and Payette Rivers are lined with prosperous ranches, 
and much of the permanent wealth of the Territory is concentrated in this 
neighborhood. Its county-seat is Bois6 City, the capital of the Territory. 

Boise City. — The capital city of Idaho is situated on the north side of 
Boise" River, about fifty miles above its confluence with the Snake. Should 
one of the old French voyageurs, who have left so deep an impression on the 
nomenclature of the West, visit the spot to-day, he would naturally conclude, 
from the numerous orchards, shady streets, and pleasant groves, that Boise" 
(wooded) City was named before the river, from which the town in fact de- 
rives its name. 

Far more wonderful than the splendors of the ancient Cities of the Plains, 
whose glories have for ages formed the theme of verse and song, is the story 
of the growth of the true American Western towns. On what was once a 
sage-brush plain, apparently almost a desert, such as constitutes so vast an 
area of Western territory, clear-sighted American grit and enterprise have 
within twenty years built a town which is the pride of its citizens and the ad- 
miration of strangers. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 55 

Here, far from the main lines of travel (until 1883, 250 miles from the 
nearest railroad communication), accessible from the great world outside only 
by long and tedious journeys by stage or teams for days and nights, over 
forbidding, desolate, and uninhabited stretches of sage-brush desert and alkali 
plains, in what was so long considered as a far-off corner of the country, the 
pioneers and settlers of Idaho have built their little city, founded their homes, 
and established their places of trade and business. 

What is now known as old Fort Boise" was established near the mouth of 
Boise" River many years ago. A writer who visited it in 1845 states that even 
at that time the Hudson's Bay Company had been maintaining a trading post 
there for many years. It was never a military post, however. The present 
Fort Boise" (more properly designated now as Boise" Barracks) was not estab- 
lished until 1863, fifty miles above the site of the old fort. To the founding 
of this military post the town may be said to owe its origin. 

A town-site company was immediately organized, and six of what are now 
the most valuable business blocks in the town were staked out. Lots were 
rapidly disposed of. The excitement attendant upon the discoveries in Boise" 
Basin brought thousands of miners into the country, the benefits of which 
were reaped in large measure by Boise City. It is upon her agricultural 
resources, however, that Boise" chiefly relies at present. 

Commercial and Statistical. — Boise" City is at present reached from 
Kuna station on the Oregon Short Line, from which it is distant about fifteen 
miles, and with which it is connected by two daily stages each way. A branch 
line is projected from a point down the valley, and is expected to be com- 
pleted early in the spring. 

The growth of Boise City has been firm from the start. While slow as 
compared with more favored localities like Denver, and subjected to no ficti- 
tious "booms "or temporary excitements, she has been steadily advancing, 
each year witnessing substantial improvement over the last. In 1880 her 
population according to the census was 1,899. Judging from the vote polled 
at the last general election, her population at present is about 3,000. Her 
assessed valuation this year is about $1,009,000, and the city debt on the first 
of January will probably not exceed $12,000. 

The business part of the town is- substantially built of brick and stone, a 
city ordinance prohibiting the erection of frame or wooden buildings within 
certain limits. The streets are wide, clean, and shady, crossing each other at 
right angles, the blocks intersected lengthwise by convenient alleyways. The 
town was incorporated January 11, 1866, and as the citizens have always 
taken special pains to elect responsible business men for its officials, the 
government has in general been wisely administered. There is a regularly 
organized fire department, with a Silsby steamer, three hose-carts, and 1,500 
feet of hose. There are two companies, Boise" Engine, No. 1, and Ada Hook 
and Ladder, No. 1. The city has recently erected a neat two-story brick 
engine-house at a cost of 3,000. Mountain water is introduced into town 
through Eastman Brothers' water- works. 

There are three excellent hotels — the Overland, Central, and Western. 
There are about a dozen general merchandise stores, besides a number of 
dealers in special merchandise, such as stationery, drugs, jewelry, furniture, 
etc. The aggregate amount of business done by the merchants monthly is 
about $200,000 cash sales. All professions and mechanical trades are well 
represented. There are sixteen saloons. 

Besides the branches of industry common to a town of this sort, there are 
several flour, grist, planing, and lumber mills, two breweries, a distillery, and 
brick and marble works. 

The First National Bank has an authorized capital of $500,000 ; present 
capital $100,000. 

A telephone exchange has been established between the leading business 
houses, hotels, and public buildings. A Board of Trade has been recently 
organized, which has rendered valuable service to the business interests of the 
city. There are three newspapers — Statesman (tri-weekly), Democrat (semi- 
weekly), and Republican (weekly). 

Six stage-lines center here. The same advantages which are offered as a 
concentrating point for stage-lines will doubtless, in the near future, make 



56 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

it an important railway center. There are many handsome two and three 
story frame and brick dwellings that would reflect credit upon a much older 
and larger town. 

It is a significant fact that there has not been" more than one important 
mercantile failure here since the organization of the town, over twenty years 
ago. 

Government and County Buildings. — The United States Penitentiary 
is located about two miles from town. It is of three stories, solid masonry. 
There are sixty inmates at present. The convicts are dressed in regular prison 
uniform, and are compelled to work. The institution is a source of consider- 
able trade to the town. 

The United States Assay Office is the finest government building in the 
Territory. It was built by the United States, at a cost of $81,000. It is of 
stone, about 60 feet square, and 45 feet high. It is of great convenience to 
bullion producers, as the assayer in charge is kept supplied from the Treas- 
ury Department with a bullion fund with which to purchase deposits. 

Ada County court-house is built on Capitol Square. The grounds occupy 
an entire block, and are surrounded by a fine iron fence. The building is of 
brick, three stories, and handsomely fitted up with court-room and rooms for 
county officers and district judge's chambers. The entire cost was $68,000. 

Other objects of interest in the city are the United States Signal OlCce, 
established in 1877, and the Territorial Law Library. The latter is under the 
supervision of the territorial secretary. There are now several thousand 
volumes of law books, the supply being constantly added to. 

The military post overlooking the town was established, as before stated, 
in 1863. There are two companies stationed there, one cavalry and one 
infantry. 

Societies and Churches. — Boise* City is more than commonly well sup- 
plied with religious, benevolent, and charitable organizations. 

The Masonic societies are Boise* Lodge, No. 2, and Shoshone Lodge, No. 7, 
A. F. & A. M.; Boise* Chapter, No. 3, R. A. M., and Idaho Commandery, No. 
1, K. T. Odd Fellows : Ada Lodge, No. 3, I. 0. O. F., and Idaho Encamp- 
ment, No. 1. Order of Workmen : Idaho, No. 5, A. O. U. W. 

There are also organizations of Champions of the Red Cross, and Boise* 
Lodge, I. O. G. T., besides the Boise* City Turn-Verein. Each of these soci- 
eties is on a solid financial basis, owning valuable real estate and buildings in 
the heart of the town. Besides these there are a free library association and a 
literary and dramatic club. There are five churches, the Methodists and Pres- 
byterians each having a fine substantial brick building. The Episcopalians, 
Roman Catholics, and Baptists each have a frame building. 

Public School. — The glory of the city, however, is its graded public 
school. The Independent School District of Boise* City was established by 
law February 4, 1SS1. The school-house is a handsome four-story brick 
building, with mansard roof. It is 100 feet in depth by 82 feet in width. 
The rooms are capable of accommodating from fifty to seventy pupils each. 
It has all the modern improvements possible, including means of A T entilation, 
heating, ingress and egress, and electric clocks, securing uniformity of time 
in each room. It was built at a cost of $50,000, and the citizens feel a just 
pride in an institution which boasts of having no superior on the coast. Many 
families have moved into the town in order to give their children an oppor- 
tunity to attend the school. So successful has the school been under the 
present management that there has been no demand for private schools, 
though there are over seven hundred school children in the district. Professor 
Daniels, the principal, is ably supported by a corps of six assistants selected 
with great care. The school is visited almost daily by strangers, who always 
leave with but one impression, that of admiration for the systematic and 
orderly arrangement of the whole institution. 

Resources. — While the trade and business incidental to a territorial 
capital and flourishing county seat are not to be ignored, Boise* has resources 
of far more importance. It occupies an eligible position as a distributing 
point. The Owyhee country, Bruneau Valley, Boise Basin, the Weiser coun- 
try, and Wood River are all more or less tributary to it. A healthy rivalry 
will be stimulated by the new towns springing up along the Oregon Short 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 57 

Line, and we may look for a future for Boise" far more brilliant than anything 
in the past. The mines in the vast scope of country tributary to the town 
will furnish a ready market for the produce and fruit of Boise which have 
become famous throughout the West. 

After the completion of the Boise" branch of the Oregon Short Line, with 
its round-house and shop at this place, it is expected that a narrow-gauge 
railroad will be constructed to connect Boise" with Atlanta, the mining camp, 
ninety miles distant, which has made such a brilliant record during the past 
season. In fact, Boise City offers the only natural outlet to the famous Boise" 
Basin section as well as the Atlanta country. 

The climate of Bois6 is salubrious. The atmosphere dry and clear. 
Snow rarely falls to a great depth. Situated at an altitude of 2,800 feet, the 
winters are mild, while the heats of summer are tempered with the cool 
mountain breezes, though wind storms are unknown. From a sanitary point 
of view, the place is the admiration of every one except the doctors and 
undertakers. The sportsman and angler will find plenty of employment in 
the neighboi'ing creeks and sloughs. 

For a mountain region the roads are good, offering facilities for pleasant 
drives in all directions. By ascending Table flock, back of the town, the 
spectator on the hottest day in summer will be welcomed by refreshing moun- 
tain breezes, while the view of the valley for miles around spreads out before 
him in all the beauty of mingled wilderness and cultivation. A favorite 
drive is to the Hot Springs, a few miles east of town. The Springs are highly 
medicinal, containing iron, sulphur, soda, lime, and magnesia. There are 
vapor, shower, plunge, and mud baths. The temperature of the Springs 
varies from 125 to 220 degrees Fahrenheit. They are already a favorite resort, 
and need only to be known to become as celebrated as the Hot Springs of 
Arkansas. 

In social attractions Boise" is far ahead of much larger towns in the East. 
The lawlessness supposed to characterize so many frontier towns is unknown 
here. The culture, refinement, and hospitality of the people of Boise" are 
proverbial. 

With easy railroad communication so soon to be established, a new stimu- 
lus will be given to enterprise. There is land enough in the neighborhood for 
all who may choose to come. The history of the past twenty years in this 
valley shows what pluck and determination can accomplish in the face of ap- 
parently almost insuperable obstacles. With these obstacles now removed, 
easily accessible to the immigrant seeking a home, or capitalist seeking invest- 
ment, with a strong determination on the part of the settlers to stand by the 
home altars which they have reared, and a boundless faith in its own re- 
sources, the Queen City of the Valley retains unshaken confidence in the 
security of its future. 

Boise Valley. — When General John C. Fremont first visited Boise" Val- 
ley, on the 7th of October, 1843, he wrote : 

"When we had traveled about eight miles we were nearly opposite to 
the highest portions of the mountains on the left side of Snake River Valley, 
and continuing on a few miles beyond, we came suddenly in sight of the broad 
green line of the valley of the Riviere Bois3, black near the gorge where it 
debouches into the plains, with high precipices of basalt, between walls of 
which it passes on, emerging from the mountains. Descending the hills after 
traveling a few miles along the plain, the road brought us down upon the 
bottoms of the river, which is a beautiful, rapid stream with clear mountain 
water, and as the name indicates, well wooded with some varieties of timber, 
among which are handsome cottonwoods. Such a stream had become quite a 
novelty in this country, and we were delighted this afternoon to make a 
pleasant camp under fine old trees again." 

The deep impression thus made on the mind of the Pathfinder, forty 
years ago, is renewed in the glad surprise experienced by every stranger who 
for the first time passes up Boise Valley, save that what was forty and even 
twenty years ago a wilderness is now adorned with pleasant farms, extensive 
orchards, and waving fields of grain. 

Boise" Valley is about sixty miles long, containing about 200. 000 acres of 
good arable land. Forty-five bushels of wheat to the acre is an average crop. 



58 KESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

The valley is capable of sustaining a large, thrifty, and prosperous farming 
population, who, with their established homes, will continue, as in the past, 
to make a permanent market for Boise City. 

Under the direction of a company of New York capitalists, known as 
the Idaho Mining and Irrigation Company, a. new irrigating canal, thirty 
miles long, fifty feet wide at the top, and thirty-five feet at the bottom, car- 
rying four feet of water, is being taken out of Boise" River on the south side. 
When completed it will reclaim 500,000 acres of what is now desert land. 

Through the courtesy of A. D. Jb'oote, Esq., engineer in charge of the 
Idaho Mining and Irrigation Company, we have been enabled to make some 
copious extracts from his official report concerning the lands in Ada County 
to be reclaimed by this undertaking. 

They may be roughly described as lying in the form of a triangle, the 
apex of which is necessary for the irrigation of the lands. This triangle is 
nearly equilateral, measuring about forty miles on each side, and containing 
approximately four hundred thousand acres, three hundred and fifty thousand 
of which are available for irrigation and occupation. 

These lands lie in immense benches, or broad plateaus, which for long 
distances slope gently toward the meeting of the rivers ; at intervals, the 
general slope is broken by a sharp mesa or bluff, and dropping fifty feet, they 
stretch out again as before. In proposing to reclaim by irrigation a tract of 
land of the size just mentioned, the first requisite naturally is water. The Boise - 
River, heading in the Sawtooth Mountains of central Idaho, has a catchment 
basin above the entrance of the company's canal of about sixteen hundred thou- 
sand acres, which gives five acres of catching surface to each acre it is pro- 
posed to irrigate. The amount of moisture in the form of snow which falls in 
the upper Boise region is purely a matter of conjecture, as no statistics on 
the subject are to be had. It is known that there is very little rainfall, and a 
great deal of snow. Whatever traveling is done there in winter is done on 
snow-shoes. The river never rises suddenly; but beginning about the middle 
of March, gradually rises, reaching its highest about the middle of June, and 
then, gradually falling, reaches its lowest point again during the long frozen 
period of the winter. The great banks of snow in the mountains work as self- 
acting reservoirs, as well as if actual reservoirs were constructed there by man — ■ 
better, perhaps, as the dam never gives way. They hold the year's collection 
of moisture until the time when most needed on the plains ; then, sending it 
down in a steady stream, increasing as the crops grow, and dwindling as 
they ripen. 

By careful measurements of the cross-section of the river-bed, where the 
canal dam is being built, and a reasonably accurate measurement of the 
velocity of the current, I find the quantity of water flowing in the river at its 
very lowest stage to be about fifteen hundred cubic feet per second. At its 
highest flood-line, as shown by the drift-wood on its banks, and estimating its 
velocity at eight feet per second, it carries about twenty-five thousand cubic 
feet per second. 

As the above-mentioned quantity is fully twice that required in the winter, 
and six times that required in the summer, for the purposes of the company, 
there is no doubt about the amount of water flowing in the river being at all 
times sufficient. It may be well to state that from many inquiries made of old 
residents here, it appears that the river was never so low as at the time of my 
measurement, since Americans began coming into the country. 

In Colorado, the average duty of water, as near as I can learn, is about 
one hundred acres per cubic foot per second. It would certainly seem as if 
Idaho would need less water than southern California, or even Colorado; but 
in order to be perfectly safe, I have calculated on one cubic foot per second for 
one hundred acres of land. At this rate, the canal will irrigate four hundred 
thousand acres; or at one hundred and fifty acres per cubic foot per second, 
six hundred thousand acres. 

The area of irrigable land lying under the canal, between the Snake and 
Boise rivers, is approximately three hundred and fifty thousand acres. On 
the south side of Snake River there is a tract of irrigable land roughly esti- 
mated at thirty-five thousand acres, which can be easily covered by the com- 
pany's water, by carrying it across the river in a pipe, or flume. Along the 



RESOURCES OE IDAHO. 59 

east side of Snake River, below or north of the mouth of the Bois(5, are some two 
hundred thousand acres of excellent land, which could be easily and cheaply 
reached from the company's canal by a pipe or flume crossing the Boise" just 
above the mouth of Ten Mile Creek. It may appear needless to take water out 
of the river on one side, and carry it down twenty miles and then cross the river 
with it; but it is much cheaper and better than to take it out of the Boise on 
the opposite side, or lower down, as the country is not adapted on that side 
of the river to canal building, nor is the river bottom adapted to dams. The 
foregoing gives 585,000 acres controlled by the canal. 

It is the experience in Colorado, Utah, and California that desert lands, 
after being irrigated a few years, require much less water than at first. Thi3 
being the case, four thousand cubic feet per second will certainly be enough 
to irrigate not only the lands of the peninsula, but those across the rivers as well. 
It will probably take several years for the settlers to thoroughly irrigate their 
lands ; and in the mean time, there is excellent use for a large portion of the 
water on the placer lands of Snake River. 

In a preceding general description of the lands of the company, they are 
described as in broad benches, or plateaus, which is correct in a general way ; 
and to one looking over them from the surrounding hills, they have a perfectly 
flat appearance. When looked at in detail with a leveling instrument, how- 
ever, there is found to be a general descent toward the Boise River, and also 
toward the junction of the Boise and Snake Rivers. This descent averages 
about twenty-five feet to the mile. It is also found that there is an immense 
number of slightly rolling plains, each with its system of divides and drainage 
channels on a small scale. . 

The Snake River has a fall of only about two feet to the mile, and its 
course is generally in a deep canon, with a high wall of lava-capped bluffs on 
the north side of it. For this reason most of the drainage of the tract of land 
under consideration is towards the Boise. This subject of the drainage of 
irrigated lands is nearly if not quite as important as the irrigation itself. 
Some, in fact nearly all, of the failures that are recorded of irrigating enter- 
prises were caused by not taking into consideration the question of draining 
the lands after irrigating them. These lands are generally covered with a 
dense growth of sage-brush, some of it very large, interspersed with what is 
locally called "white sage." In places, large areas have been accidentally 
burned off and are slowly being covered again. I mention this burning merely 
to show that the land is very easily cleared. 

In regard to the quality, richness, or productiveness of these lands, there 
is a certain amount of possible evidence to be obtained from the farmers lo- 
cated on the north border of the tract along the Boise River. There is but a 
narrow strip or fringe of land on which the crops are now grown. Some might 
think for this reason that this fringe was the only land of the tract which is 
arable. On the contrary, every farmer along this narrow strip, and every one 
knowing anything about soils, will testify that the higher lands farther from 
the Boise" River are far better, both in climate and soil, than the lowlands 
now cultivated. The expense of getting water from the Bois6 River to the 
higher lands has prevented and always will prevent any being taken out on a 
small scale. 

Numbers of farmers along the river have already applied to me for oppor- 
tunities to get land higher up, most of them desiring to get on to Deer Flat, 
which is the highest tract of all. The reason for the higher tract being the 
richer is simply that it is composed in large part of decomposed lava, which 
makes the richest soil known, while the lower lands have a large proportion 
of clay and sand from the Boise River. 

The following analyses, made by Professor Johnson of Yale College, show 
the composition of the soil in two places. (Sample No. 1 was taken from near 
the wagon road, about five miles north of Henderson's Ferry. Sample No. 2 
was taken about midway between the two rivers and about twelve miles east 
of their junction.) 

A. D. Foote, Esq. New Havex, Coxn., February 25, 1834. 

Dear Sir : I give you herewith the results of analyses of the two 
samples of soil lately received from you. The analyses show that both soils 



60 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

contain a good store of all the elements of fertility, with the single exception 
of nitrogen. The considerable quantity of matters soluble in hydrochloric 
acid, and the fineness of the soils, afford strong presumption that they will, 
under due supply of water, yield abundandant nourishment to crops. Since 
ordinary crops, under favorable conditions, forage by their roots, through a 
depth of several feet, no less than ten million pounds of soil per acre contribute 
to their nourishment ; and in such a mass of soil the small amounts of sul- 
phuric acid and nitrogen stated in the analyses represent considerable quan- 
tities, each hundredth of a per cent corresponding to one thousand pounds 
per acre. Yours very truly, 

S. W. Johnson. 

Analyses op Soils, by Professor S. W. Johnson. 

No. 1. No. 2. 

Silica (soluble in hydrochloric acid) 016 .024 

Oxide of iron and alumina 1.624 2.025 

Lime 1.200 .383 

Magnesia 768 .503 

Soda 026 .043 

Potash ' 119 .259 

Sulphuric acid (SO 3 ) 026 .023 

Phosphoric acid (Pr O 5 ) Ill .094 

Carbonic acid (C O' 2 ) 866 trace 

Chlorine trace trace 

Silica (soluble in carb. soda, sal.) 1.958 2.461 

Titanic oxide (Ti O 2 ) 869 .303 



Matters dissolved or set free by cold concentrated hydro- 
chloric acid 7.583 6.118 

Sands, silicates, etc., insoluble in acid 92.417 93.8S2 



100.000 100.000 
Organic matters contain of nitrogen 055 .040 

Supposing, however, that the higher lands are no richer than the lower, I 
give the following results as showing what can be done on the low, poor lands, 
it being remembered that no manure is used, except that contained in the 
muddy water of the Boise\ Mr. I. N. Cos tan, a member of the legislature 
for many years, and one of the most prominent farmers in the Boise" Valley, 
made the following statements to me while I wrote them down : 

" Last year, 18S2, on ten acres of poorest land, with imperfect irrigation, 
raised forty tons of red-clover hay. Sold 75,000 pounds (1,250 bushels) of 
onions from two acres. Potatoes only gave 200 bushels to the acre. Have 
raised 1,000 bushels on two acres. Have raised 113 bushels of bar- 
ley on an acre. Wheat from forty to sixty bushels ; oats one hundred 
to one hundred and fifty bushels ; carrots and turnips equally good with po- 
tatoes. Connecticut flint-corn will grow well, especially on the higher benches; 
have raised sixty bushels to the acre in the bottoms. Prunes, the Germans 
say, grow better than in their own country. Apples, pears, peaches, plums, 
apricots, cherries, etc., as good, if not better, than in the most favored spots 
in California. The elm, soft maple, black-walnut, locust, etc., make our best 
shade trees." 

Mr. B. B. Stewart, whose farm is situated nearly opposite Boisd City, is said 
to have the poorest land in the valley. He admits it is rather poor when 
first broken up, but the muddy water of the Boise seems to have a powerful 
effect on it. He gives the following as examples of what he can do with his 
land : 

"I have been farming for five years on this same tract of land. My 
principal crop has been grass, which improves by irrigation. I grow alfalfa 
and clover; my average crop is four tons to the acre, in two cuttings, and it is 
now better than when first seeded. Raised about fifteen acres of potatoes this 
year which averaged 150 bushels merchantable potatoes to the acre, which is 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 61 

about an average crop. Have raised corn every year I have worked the land, 
until this year. Have grown flint-corn, never less than twenty-five bushels to 
the acre, and on an average from thirty tothirty-fivebushels to the acre. This 
past year raised an Early Dent corn, which has yielded better than the flint- 
corn. Have raised wheat, but only in small quantities, and not often, which 
averaged twenty-two bushels to the acre. Do not consider my land as well 
adapted to wheat as other crops. I can cut and put hay in the stack for the 
cost of oue ton of hay to the acre, which leaves a net of three tons of hay to 
the acre. I have a small apple and pear orchard of about an acre, which has 
been set three years ; would have had quite a crop this year if the fruit buds 
had not been killed by the unusual cold weather of last winter ; have about a 
half acre of small fruits, currants, raspberries, strawberries, etc., etc. I sold 
last summer, from eighteen square rods of land, §125 worth of strawberries, 
besides using all we wanted in the family. I find I can grow larger crops ol 
small fruit, as well as other crops here, than in Massachusetts, Missouri, or 
Oregon — in all of which States I have cultivated fruits, etc. To sum up, I 
can raise larger crops and with more certainty, on this sage-brush desert, with 
irrigation, than in either of the above States, depending upon the usual rain- 
fall, besides always having clear weather to secure crops after they have 
grown. " 

Mr. Payne, a neighbor of Mr. Stewart, went on his land in the spring of 
1S7S. Having irrigated a year or two longer than Mr. Stewart, he has better 
crops. This year he raised 360 tons of alfalfa on sixty acres of land (six tons 
per acre), 160 tons of clover on forty acres (four tons per acre). He does not 
raise much wheat, because lie thinks feed crops pay Better. Oats sown with 
clover gave him thirty bushels per acre this year. Has usually raised very 
good flint-corn, but did not plant any this year. 

Four years ago he set out two hundred apple-trees, and this year realized 
an average of two bushels per tree. The potatoes yielded 200 bushels per 
acre. 

Dr. Wright, of Boise" City, who has a farm near Middleton, told me that 
one field of ten acres has produced from five to six hundred bushels of wheat 
every season for the past fourteen years, and it still appears well, if not better 
than ever. 

I mentioned that the climate on the higher lands is preferable to the river 
bottoms. In all temperate climates low, wet places, surrounded by hills and 
away from the sea, are the first to be touched by a white frost in the autumn, 
and the last in the spring. The cause is easily shown, but need not be stated 
here, so longasthefactis admitted ; consequently, the first blossoms and tender 
plants are more likely to be killed when confined by the mesa along the Bois6 
River than when only a hundred feet or two higher on the broad, open plains. 

The average temperature for the year is probably lower on the plains than 
along the river, but it is also much more even, and it is quick to change from 
cold night to bright, warm day, which ruins fruit blossoms. The fruit or- 
chards along the Boise" Valley have suffered very slightly from this, it is true, 
losing peaches only twice, I think, since its settlement ; but the probabilities 
are that one of these times, at least, they would not have been destroyed on 
the plains above. 

The climate is about the same as that of Virginia, as a rule, but with 
fewer storms, less wind, and is much drier. Last winter it was much colder 
than ever known in Virginia. Exceptional winters, however, occur every- 
where, I believe, and need not be considered in a general estimate of the cli- 
mate. There are none of those terrible tornadoes known here which devas- 
tate the mid-west. I believe they are impossible in a valley shut in by 
mountains. 

The following letter, written by Judge John B. Miller, late Register 
United States Land Office, Boise" City, in reply to a series of questions by 
an inquirer in Iowa, truthfully covers many important points, and as it is 
written by an old resident to a friend in the East, probably will convey the 
kind of information desired better than I could : 

" Referring to your letter of the 2d mst., making inquiry in relation to the 
climate, amount of arable land, the prospects of new settlers, etc., I will state 
that, as you are perhaps aware, I have resided the greater portion of my life in 



62 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

Iowa, but have been residing here for three years past, and am pretty well 
acquainted with all portions of the Territory, but more especially with the 
Boise" City land district. The climate here is fine in summer ; while it is 
quite warm in the sun, yet in the shade it is always cool, and at night, in the 
warmest weather, you will need a blanket over you while sleeping. The 
summers have certainly reminded me of my summer in California in 1850. 
There we could work all day, in the hottest sun, without feeling oppressed by 
heat. I do not recall any day that I have felt uncomfortable here. The fact 
is, you can endure more here than you could in a more level country, the air 
being more exhilarating. There is a buoyancy in the step of the people 
peculiar to those residing in a mountainous region. While the summers are 
cool and pleasant, the winters are delightful ; perhaps not one half the 
people of the Territory have overcoats, and of that half not one in ten 
uses them except when riding. As a result of the mildness of the winters, the 
dwelling-houses, as a rnle, have thin walls, and people live comfortably in 
houses which would be untenantable in an Iowa winter. In speaking of the 
mild winters, I refer only to the valleys ; in the mountains the weather is cold, 
and snow falls to a great depth. 

" I would estimate the tillable land at about one acre in twenty, the bal- 
ance consisting of mountains and their foot-hills, which cannot be reached by 
irrigating ditches; None of the valleys are wide, and a large portion of them 
have to be irrigated in order to raise crops. However, irrigating is not 
nearly so expensive or troublesome a$ I had supposed before I came here, and 
with the main ditches once made, the farmer has but little trouble, and can 
control the flow of water as he pleases ; and with an absolute immunity from 
rain in summer, he can count with a reasonable certainty on a pleasant time 
for harvest and the number of bushels he will raise. 

" The crops generally raised are wheat, oats, and barley, and all the vege* 
tabl3s common in Iowa and Illinois. All kinds of fruit trees and shrubbery 
grow finely here j the finest variety of rose-bushes, which can only be raised 
in Iowa with extreme care, live through the winter without any protection. 
The varieties of fruit grown here are greater than in any portion of the United 
States, except California ; frequently in the same garden you will see trees 
loaded down with apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, and 
prunes. The fruit yield of last year was simply enormous, while the crop of 
this year is good. 

' ' I fully realize the difficulty of explaining the climate so that it will be 
understood by an Iowa man. In mid-winter we may have one day a snow 
from five to eight inches deep, and will wonder how on earth the cattle, sheep, 
and horses are to live out on the range without feed, when in perhaps twenty- 
four or forty-eight hours we feel the chinook (coast wind) commencing to blow 
soft like an evening breeze in summer, but steady, and in a short time the 
snow will disappear, and the ground become completely dry. As you are per- 
haps aware, all kinds of stock are allowed to run out on the range in winter, 
without feed, and, as a rule, come out fat in the spring. You can, perhaps, 
get a more correct idea of the mild character of the winters here when I tell 
you that birds which are usually migratory remain here summer and winter. 
The wild geese breed and remain here at all seasons. 

" A man coming here from Iowa would at first dislike the country, and if 
profane,, would curse the Fates — or, more likely, the fellow who tempted him 
to come. 

"If in summer the roads will be deep with dust, the valleys will appear 
more narrow than they really arc, and when not irrigated the grass will appear 
like dry hay; while for miles, sometimes, he will sec nothing but sage-brush 
and jack-rabbits ; but take out irrigating ditches and cover the sage plains 
with water, and the sage will disappear ; and the land which before appeared 
worthless will produce, on an average, twice as much wheat to the acre as 
can be raised on the best Iowa lands, while the farmer and stock-raiser have 
the endless mountain range free of taxes to raise their stock on. From the 
very nature of the country, there will always be comparatively few towns in 
Idaho. The real business will be farming, stock-raising, and mining. While 
fortunes will be made for ages to c»:ne at the last-named business, stock-rais- 
ing and farming will be the more certain investments. Stock-raising must 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 63 

always be good ; for, as I said before, it costs nothing to raise stock, and 
farming will always pay well, as the mines will not consume all that can be 
raised in the valleys, and the produce will command higher rates than can be 
obtained in the States. 

"I could pick out here and there, all over the Territory, valleys that 
whole neighborhoods from the States could move into and find homes which, in 
a short time, they would not exchange for their old ones. 

" It is hard to tell which is more profitable here, raising cattle or horses, 
as I find a wide difference of opinion on the subject. It certainly takes less 
capital to start in the cattle business ; but with capital to start on, I am in- 
clined to believe raising horses and mules is the most remunerative. There 
are not many sheep here, but the business is a good one. " 

The following is copied from H. E. Strahorn's pamphlet on "Idaho and 
its Resources," which is mainly correct : 

" Idaho valleys cannot be excelled by any region east of California for 
the production of fruit. Apples, peaches, pears, nectarines, apricots, plums, 
prunes, grapes, and all the small fruits are produced in the greatest abun- 
dance, and of a quality unsurpassed. The sage-brush lands, naturally the very 
emblem of sterility and desolation, are in a few years turned into the finest 
fruit farms, with less trouble than attend a similar transformation on the 
wild prairies of Iowa or Nebraska. A prominent fruit-grower estimates that 
twenty thousand large fruit trees have been set out annually for the past five 
years in the valleys surrounding Boise\ Several of the orchards in this locality 
produce from twenty-five thousand to forty thousand bushels of fruit each 
annually, there having been but one failure of the crop for ten years. General 
L. F. Cartee, ex-Surveyor-.General of Idaho, has forty varieties of grapes in 
his vineyard, none of which have ever failed to bear a full crop, save the 
Catawba. John Krall, in the suburbs of Boise", has one hundred and twenty- 
five acres in fruits (twenty thousand trees), embracing all the varieties known 
in this latitude. His production last season was five hundred thousand 
pounds. He finds no fruit insects yet, and pears are never troubled with 
blight or other disease. His market is mainly in the mining camps, and his 
fruit commands from five to twelve cents per pound. Thomas Davis, also 
near Bois<§, has a seventy-five-acre orchard (ten thousand trees). His orchard 
has failed to produce but once in the lent ten years, and his last season's crop 
of forty thousand bushels of large fruits, and five hundred bushels of berries, 
must have returned him a snug little fortune alone. His orchard is seventeen 
years old, and not a tree in it looks like decaying. Mr. Davis has extensive 
fruit-drying apparatus, and a cider and vinegar factory, in which he works up 
vast quantities of fruit annually. Indeed, fruit-drying and the manufacture 
of cider is a prominent and very profitable industry. One firm dries from 
thirty thousand to forty thousand pounds of fruit annually, and the interest 
bids fair to grow until at least the demand of Idaho and adjacent territory 
is supplied. 

"The fourth year's growth of apples in Bois£ Valley has yielded two 
hundred pounds ; of cherries, seventy-five pounds ; of peaches, one hundred 
and fifty-two pounds ; of pears, one hundred and thirty pounds ; of plums, 
one hundred and fifty pounds ; while small fruits, such as strawberries, cur- 
rants, gooseberries, blackberries, and raspberries, are very prolific. The 
growth of wood made by fruit trees, and the quantity of fruit often found 
loading the branches, is almost incredible. John Lamb, in Boise City, has 
black locust trees on which I was shown limbs which had grown from twelve 
to fifteen feet in one season ; and plum, peach, and apple trees, two years 
from the graft, full of fruit. In the yard of Governor Neil, at Bois£, I counted 
one hundred and forty nearly ripe greengage plums on a branch seventeen 
inches long, the plums averaging one and one half inches in diameter. 

" There is a grand future in store for the Idaho fruit-grower. Montana 
to the north. Wyoming on the east, Nevada to the south, produce practically 
no fruit. With her railroads soon reaching the remotest corner's of these 
Territories, and with a vast consumption at home, Idaho is assured the 
best fruit markets in the land. Fruit can be produced in all her lower 
valleys, and short-sighted is the settler who does not take advantage of the 
above facts." ' ' ' 



G4 RESOURCES OE IDAHO. 

I have once or twice in this paper used the expression, " muddy water of 
the Boise" Eiver." This "muddy "part of the water is of immense impor- 
tance to the enterprise contemplated. If the water were not muddy it Avould 
be a serious, if not fatal, drawback to the undertaking as far as irrigation is 
concerned. I mentioned Mr. Stewart as saying that his land was poor, but 
the muddy water enabled him to get along. He says : " If a ditch, in which 
the water has been running for several weeks, be allowed to run dry, a fine 
greenish gray coating will be found to cover the bottom and sides from a 
quarter to half an inch thick. The sun shining on this will cause it to smell 
badly in a few hours. I find on my land that wheat does not do very well 
for the first few years after it is broken up, but after irrigating it a couple of 
years it will grow wheat well. One portion of my land gets its water from 
a pond or reservoir where the water has settled and become clear. It does 
not make good crops like the ' muddy water.' I would rather give two dol- 
lars an acre for muddy water than one for clear." 

General Cartee of Boise - , late Surveyor-General of Idaho, says : " Open a 
trench, or furrow, through a newly plowed field, and let that muddy water 
through it ; at first it will soak through its banks, and by percolation wet the 
earth each side for a distance of perhaps two feet ; by that time there will be a 
lining of fine silt to the trench, and no water will go through it. You cannot 
irrigate by percolation with this water, and you need fear no seepage from 
your ditches or canals. There will be a little in the beginning, but it will not 
last. We have to irrigate here by letting the water over the surface in a 
sheet, or better, little drills, such as are formed by a harrow, and the result 
is that we get a layer of fine silt over all the land, which is the best fertilizer 
we can have." "Our lands grow richer by cropping, instead of poorer." 
Mr. Costan and Mr. Payne tell me the same thing, but it is needless to mul- 
tiply the testimony. 

In the matter of location, these lands at first glance appear somewhat iso- 
lated, and without a market or outlet for their produce. The extensive mining 
regions of the Owyhee County on the south and west, of central Idaho on the 
north, and of eastern Idaho and southern Montana on the east, will for many 
years make a lively market for fruit and vegetables. These mining districts 
are just beginning to give promise of great and continued productiveness. 

There is no market the pioneer farmer likes so well as a mining market 
for his produce. Prices are invariably high and sales are quick. The Oregon 
Short Line Bail way, just completed, bisects these lands near the middle, and 
has located three towns thereon. Two of these are merely side-tracks, or 
water-stations ; the third, Caldwell, is a rapidly growing railroad town, and 
is the point of connection with a branch road building to Boise" City. Of 
course its stability depends almost entirely on the irrigation of the lands 
around it. The advantages of the railroad communication thus already estab- 
lished with the mining regions of Wood River and Butte, with the Pacific 
Coast, via the Oregon Bailroad and Navigation Company's lines, and also with 
the rest of the country, are too evident to need description. 

I anticipate, however, that the greatest advantages in the peculiar loca- 
tion of these lands will be found in their proximity to the great summer pas- 
tures of central and western Idaho. At present the few scattering herds can 
find sufficient nutriment in the exposed knolls and in the sage-brush of "the 
low valleys during the winter. 

Camas Prairie, Little Camas Prairie, and the hills and mountains around 
and to the eastward and northward, can fatten a million cattle every year 
where now they fatten a thousand, if there were any place to keep them through 
the winter. Stockmen know this, and already numbers of them have inquired 
of me about locating on these very lands for the purpose of raising alfalfa to 
feed in the winter. With alfalfa they can keep the stock fat and ship fat 
cattle East in the spring. 

One who has not seen them can form no idea of the extent and richness 
of these mountain pastures of central Idaho. I have Avandcred over a large 
extent of them, and know whereof I write. The soil is rich and moist, and 
does not wear out as do the Wyoming plains. Water is plentiful. The hills 
and prairies are rolling, of ten steep but not rocky. Quaking-asp thickets are 
scattered through them, making plenty of shelter from sun or storm ; and the 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 65 

fattening properties of the grass is something bordering on the marvelous. I 
repeat, therefore, that the peculiar location of these (when watered) rich, hay- 
growing plains, near these immense grass-growing hills, makes a combination 
that cannot be excelled for stock-raising purposes. It enables the stock- 
grower in Idaho to ship fat cattle East in the spring with a decided advantage 
on the more expensive corn-fed cattle of Nebraska and Kansas ; and finally, 
the beef fatenedin the Idaho hills and kept on alfalfa, will be found to have 
more and better flavor, be more juicy and tender, than corn-fed beef. 

Caldwell, named from the Kansas ex-Senator, is situated on the south 
side of Boise" River, at the crossing of the Oregon Short Line, at an altitude 
of 2,500 feet. It is hardly a year old, but already boasts of a number of sub- 
stantial dwellings and business houses. It has a telephone exchange, con- 
necting the town with Boise" City, 30 miles away, two hotels, several mer- 
chandise and hardware stores, and all the other accompaniments of a much 
older town. It has the advantage of having a settled and prosperous com- 
munity surrounding it, so that when it sprung into existence upon the arrival 
of the railroad, it found a market ready made. A weekly newspaper, the 
Tribune, advertises its resources to the outside world. Before a building on 
the town site had been completed, the money was raised to erect a good, com- 
fortable school- house. The Baptists have already built a neat, commodious 
edifice. The Boise" Valley Branch of the Short Line running to Boise City is 
to have its junction here. The canal constructed by the Land Improvement 
Company takes its water from Boise" River, about ten miles east, is led over 
a high plateau to the south-east, and reaches the reservoir near the summit of 
the "Terrace," on the eastern edge of town, by a line fifteen miles long. It 
covers about 15,000 acres of some of the finest farming lands in the west. 

Situated in the center of an agricultural, grazing, mining, and forest 
region, there seems no reason why Caldwell should not, in a few years, be one 
of the leading towns in Idaho. 

Payette Valley is a fine agricultural region, situated about 50 miles 
north-west from Boise" City. It is several miles in width, and contains rich 
belts of alluvial bottom-lands. It is surrounded by foot-hills covered with 
nutritious bunch-grass, furnishing feed to thousands of cattle, horses, and 
sheep. The section is attracting much attention as a stock country. Wheat, 
oats, barley, hay, corn, potatoes, and other vegetables, besides fruits, are suc- 
cessfully raised. 

Emrnettsville is a rapidly growing agricultural settlement in the heart of 
Payette Valley. A fine bridge across the Payette is near this town, and it 
already commands considerable trade for miles around. 

There are two large irrigating ditches, carrying about 25,000 inches of 
water. It is estimated that the two ditches together will cover sixty sections 
of agricultural land. Another irrigating scheme is projected, second in im- 
portance only to that in Boise Valley. It is proposed to construct a canal on 
each side of the river, beginning near the Boise" County line, and flowing 
thence westerly. When completed, these ditches will reclaim from 200,000 to 
300,000 acres, and furnish farms for hundreds and even thousands of colonists. 

Ada County being chiefly agricultural, but little attention has been de- 
voted to its mineral resources. The cretaceous rock of the foot-hills of the 
Boise Mountains, which traverse the whole length of the county, are said to 
be coal-bearing, and the lignite discovered in several places for a distance of 
thirty miles is of a superior quality. In the same formation beds of a very 
fine fire-clay are found. 

ALTURAS county. 

Alturas has an area of over 19,000 square miles, or larger than Vermont 
and New Hampshire combined. It is about 200 miles in length, with a width 
varying from 70 to 130 miles. It is the banner county of the Territory, not 
only in size, but also in wealth and population. In it lies the great Wood 
River region, the phenomenal richness of whose deposits, as well as those of 
the Sawtooth, have made the name of Alturas known all over the world. 
Situated in central Idaho, watered by the river from which the section takes 
its name and by a score of tributaries, at an elevation of from 5,200 to 9,000 



66 RESOURCES OF IDAHO 

feet, are the great mineral fields of Idaho. With a mineral belt extending for 
110 miles, with easy communication by means of the Wood River branch of 
the Oregon Short Line, with a record already brilliant though hardly four 
years old, this may be truly regarded as an attractive country, 

A correspondent of the Chicago Tribune writes : "Veterans in mining busi- 
ness stood amazed as the belt, if I may so term it, broadened and lengthened, 
and it seemed that it absolutely had no limit. From the mountains bordering 
Wood River Valley at Bellevue, across the divide into Croy Gulch, across this 
into Bullion, beyond this to Deer Creek, over this divide into Warm Springs 
Creek, and beyond this to the Smokies, the almost solid column of locations 
extends ; and scattered throughout this entire fifty-mile stretch there are 
proved to be good paying mines, while the prospects with an actual value of 
from $1,000 to $10,000 are myriads. Beyond the Smokies, on this chain, 
comes we know not what ; the country is too young to have told; but is rich 
with promise for the next season." 

Among the several thousand locations it would be not only impracticable, 
but tedious, to give a detailed catalogue descriptive of every claim. We shall 
therefore content ourselves with a general description of the country, refer- 
ring simply to some of the more important mines. We are indebted to Mr. 
T. E. Picotte of Hailey, Major Wm. Hyndman of Ketchum, and Major Win. 
H. Pettit of Atlanta, for much of the information in the following pages con- 
cerning the resources of the country. 

Within its boundaries may be enjoyed at all seasons quite a diversity of 
climate. All fruits and cereals pertaining to the temperate zone can be cul- 
tivated there, with the same result of really wonderful returns. On fresh - 
broken ground, or common "sod," a yield of fifty bushels of wheat or 
barley is generally expected and secured, while from the same planting the 
yield of " volunteer " grain the second year is even greater, 

At Armstrong's Willow Creek ranch, this year, five acres of volunteer wheat 
yielded 522 bushels, or at the rate of over one hundred and four, bushels 

PER ACRE ! 

This is, of course, an extreme case — in fact, it stands unequaled even on 
Camas Prairie, that garden-spot of Idaho — but several instances could be 
cited where the yield of volunteer wheat has reached 75 bushels per acre. 

The soil is so well adapted to the raising of potatoes and vegetables that 
a yield of less than one ton of potatoes per acre is a great disappointment, 
while with ruta-bagas, carrots, etc., less than two tons is not considered an 
average crop. And this, it must be borne in mind, is in fresh-plowed ground 
that three years ago had never even felt the tramp of civilized man. 

As a Stock-raising Country. — There is probably no better country in 
the world for stock-raising. The would-be cattle king can here indeed realize 
his dream of seeing his flocks feeding on a thousand hills, with no other 
trouble than two annual round-ups to change from the summer to the winter 
range, and vice versa, and for branding purposes. 

The drives from one season's range to another are short, not exceeding 
seventy miles, and stock keep fat and ready for market the year round. 
Surprising as this may appear, it is nevertheless a fact that when fat beef 
cattle are needed for market, no matter what the season, the butchers can go 
to any herder in the county, with entire confidence of finding what they seek. 
In summer the stock feed on the fine growing grass of the foot-hills of the 
Sawtooth range ; in the winter months the abundant bunch-grass of the great 
Snake River lava fields enables them to thrive and fatten. 

This industry is making such rapid strides that several cattle-raisers 
have already begun the importation of thorough-bred stock, and E. U. Leon- 
ard, assessor and tax collector of Alturas County, who brought out two car- 
loads of Jersey and Holstein bulls and heifers last spring, will visit Wisconsin 
and Illinois this winter, to purchase three or four car-loads more. His experi- 
ments made the past season have convinced him that a Jersey cow will yield 
much more and richer milk fed on native grasses, than the best native milker, 
even when stall-fed on the most approved diet. This gentleman has just 
established a creamery, with which he expects to compete very successfully 
with the choicest products of the trans-Mississippi creameries. One of the 
best permanent ranges in the world, according to its size, is undoubtedly to 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 67 

be found in Alturas County to-day ; as the lava fields can never be settled, 
while the mountain ranges will probably remain in the same condition, except 
where a mineral-bearing outcrop may induce a miner to locate a claim. 

As a Mineral-bearing Section. — Probably no other region on the face 
of the globe is equally favored with Alturas County in this respect. Whither- 
soever the prospector may direct his steps from the lava fields, he cannot fail 
to strike ore. And the only other questions that may puzzle him, next to 
that of "Shall I strike ore?" which he can always surely answer in the affirm- 
ative, are : " How much will there be of it? " "What character shall it be ? " 
As to its grade or accessibility he need not worry ; the first will be high, the 
second easy, as the country is becoming almost as equally noted for the exceed- 
ing richness of its ores as for the beauty and smoothness of its natural roads. 

The mines have made Alturas County what it is to-day. But for the 
mines, its numerous small valleys, and gulches, and extensive lava fields 
would have in time afforded feed to thousands upon thousands of heads of 
stock ; but the remoteness of the region from market would have prohibited 
all agricultural enterprise except such as would be needed for individual 
wants. With the discovery and exploration of the mines, however, a local 
market has been afforded the agricultural producer, who finds rapid cash sales 
for all his "truck " at $-10 to $50 for hay, four to five cents per pound for 
vegetables, the same for oats and barley, and so on. The mines of Alturas 
County were discovered in the early 'sixties by gold-hunters on their way to 
some far-off El Dorado. The first discovery was made in the extreme north- 
western end of the county, in an aggregation of granite bowlders, since known 
as Rocky Bar. Soon after placers were worked at Atlanta, and permanent set- 
tlements made. From these two points many expeditions were sent out to the 
eastern portion of the county, which was then indicated on the maps under 
the general name of "unexplored region," and many good prospects found; 
but the fear of the Bannock Indians — a warlike tribe which at that time 
roamed about Lost, Little Wood, and Big Wood Rivers, and over Camas Prai- 
rie — prevented any settlement other than on one of the Smoky creeks, where 
Newton Revis, a hardy old gold-seeker, located a placer at least ten years 
ago. 

These expeditions brought back such glowing reports that the miners of 
Rocky Bar and Atlanta, consumed with a burning desire to occupy this " un- 
explored region," could hardly restrain themselves from invading it, even 
though to do so seemed to be certain death ; and the Indian outbreak which 
resulted in the Bannack tribe being driven from Camas Prairie and the entire 
Wood River and Sawtooth region was a most welcome event. The prospec- 
tors soon followed the retreating Indians, the sound of the pick and shovel 
was heard in the land, discovery followed discovery, until a large population 
flocked in, and towns, hoisting works, concentrating and reducing mills, and 
smelting and sampling works sprung up in almost every gulch. 

Three Years' Progress. — Since that time Alturas county's progress has 
been really wonderful. Scarcely three years have passed, and yet the track- 
less desert has been spanned by 252 miles of standard-gauge railway, fully 
equipped, with an equal extent of telegraph lines ; the tax-paying population 
has increased from almost 500 souls to 2,900 ; the taxable property from 
$750,000 to $3,250,000 ; the annual county revenue from $25,000 to $130,000 ; 
the annual yield of the mines from $250,000 to $5,000,000; and everything 
else in the same proportion. The increase in property values can perhaps be 
better appreciated it' the following mine sales be quoted — the reader bearing in 
mind that a few years back the very existence of these mines was unknown : 

The Minnie Moore sold last spring to an English syndicate, which includes 
among its members one of the directors of the Bank of England, for $500,000. 
The purchase price is paid. 

The Idahoan is sold to a London and New York company, of which the 
Count de Barranca, a noted German financier, is one. Price $450,000. 

The Mayflower, at Bullion, was sold to J. V. Farwell, the Chicago mer- 
chant prince, for $375,000. In less than eighteen months it reimbursed the 
purchaser for his outlay. 

The Narrow-gauge Bannock group, purchased by the same for $85,000 
cash, sold only the preceding season for $5,000. 



68 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

The Muldoon mine, discovered in the spring of 1882, was sold the same 
fall to a Philadelphia company for $125,000. 

Numberless other instances might be quoted, but these suffice. 

The Reduction Works. — As above stated, the ore is of wonderfully high 
grade, but of exceedingly diversified character. On the outskirts of the Big 
Wood River Valley — in Resurrection district — is found a gold-ledge thirty 
feet wide, of ore that averages $25 per ton, an enormous 3 7 ield for a free-gold 
vein of that size. This vein crosses the valley, and reappears again south-west 
of Hailey, where it is known as the Big Camas. 

About four miles north of Resurrection district some silver-bearing galena 
begins to be found. Its value per ton varies of course, but scarcely falls below 
$90. From that point past Bellevue, Hailey, Bullion, Ketchum, Muldoon, 
Bowlder, on to Galena, from north to south, and Soldier Creek and Smoky dis- 
tricts to Little Lost River, from west to east, this character of ore is found. 
North of Galena, east of Little Lost River, and west of the Smokies, the 
character of the ore again changes to gold and silver bearing. 

Such a variety of ore of course necessitates an equal variety of modes of 
reduction. The free-gold ore is therefore reduced in gold mills, the silver-gold 
ore in silver mills. The last-mentioned kind of ore being refractory, roasting 
furnaces are attached to the mills constructed to reduce it. 

The reducing capacity of the mills and smelters now in the county is about 
as follows : 

Tons. 

The Bellevue smelting works , 5 

The Hailey smelting works 10 

The Ketchum smelting works 120 

The Galena smelting works , 30 

The Little Wood River smelting works 60 

The Vienna Company's mill 50 

The Columbia and Beaver Company's mill, at Sawtooth 50 

The Atlanta Company's mill, at Atlanta 50 

The Buffalo Company's mill, at Atlanta 40 

The Big Lode Company's mill, at Atlanta 30 

The Last Chance Company's mill, at Atlanta 20 

Making a total daily milling and smelting capacity of 465 

In addition to the above, there are several concentrating works, that is> 
works which concentrate the metal in from three to ten tons of ore into one, 
by separating it from the waste. Of these the most noted are : 

Tons. 

The Minnie Moore Company's, with a daily capacity of 80 

The Queen of the Hills Company's 50 

The Hailey Concentrating Company's 40 

The Wood River Company's 60 

The Mayflower Company's o0 

The Narrow-Gauge Company's 40 

The North Star Company's 40 

The Buzzo Company's 40 

The Ontario Company's 40 

The Silver King Company's 30 

The Little Wood River Company's 30 

Making a total daily capacity of ... . 510 

These works do not all run steadily, however, our mining men not having 
lost their habit of spending the winter months in the East, the works remain- 
ing closed in the mean while. 

The Towns. — The importance to which the mining and cognate indus- 
tries have attained in this county led to the location of several towns, whose 
enterprising citizens vie with each other in advancing the interests of their 
respective localities. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 69 

The first large town which the traveler by rail sees in the county is 

Shoshone, which is located at the junction of the Wood River Branch 
Railway. Here the Oregon Short Line Company have constructed the most 
extensive and complete railway shops west of Omaha. The town is also the 
terminal point of the toll-road to the great Shoshone Falls, which have been 
very properly named "The Niagara of the West," and which will attract and 
delight large numbers of tourists from this time on. There is a good weekly 
paper published here — the Journal — and the place is the center of a thriving 
stock-raising district. Present population about 700. 

Bellevue. — This is the next important town reached. It is located on the 
east branch of Wood River, about fifoy miles north of Shoshone, via the 
Wood River Branch. The Minnie Moore, Queen of the Hills, Queen Victoria, 
Monday, Oswego, and other rich mines are within one to two miles, and 200 
men are steadily employed in and about the mines, at wages varying from 
$3.50 to $6 per day. 

Across the river, opposite Bellevue, is the new town of Broadford, the 
miners' headquarters. Population of Bellevue and Broadford, about 2,000. 
A weekly newspaper — the Chronicle — is published here. 

Hailey. — Five miles north of Bellevue is Hailey. This is the county 
seat of Alturas, and the commercial, financial, political, and social center of 
the Wood River and Sawtooth mining region. Admirably situated at the in- 
tersection of Croy Gulch and the Wood River Valley, and in the very centre 
of the county, her enterprising business men draw trade from all parts of the 
surrounding country in a radius of 150 miles. Three daily and three weekly 
newspapers are published here, viz. : The Wood River Times, the Inter -Idaho, 
and the JVeura- Miner. The Times also publishes a weekly edition, as do the 
News-Miner and Inter-Idaho. The former is inits fourth year; the Inter-Idaho 
is but five months old. Population of Hailey about 2,500 souls. 

Bullion lies about seven miles west of Hailey. It is exclusively a min- 
ing camp, situated in a narrow gulch. In its neighborhood are some of the 
richest mines in the Territory. Conspicuous among these is the Bullion Mine, 
operated and owned by the Wood River Gold and Silver Mining Company, of 
which Colonel E. A. Wall is manager. The ore is largely composed of gray 
copper, assaying 180 ounces in silver. There are over two miles in tunnels and 
drifts. The mill in connection with the mine paid for itself the first week. 
" That is," says Colonel Wall, " we had ore we could not use, ore not worth 
anything to us, and in one week I sold enough from that ore to pay for the 
mill." 

The Mayflower, referred to above, the Jay Gould, O. K., Eureka, and 
the Idahoan (the last named having been recently sold for $450,000), are all 
fine paying properties. 

Deer Creek enters Wood River a short distance above Hailey. The 
Montana, Silver Moon, Mountain View, Wolf tone, and Davitt are all promising 
claims. The Narrow-gauge Group is owned by Chicago parties ; they have 
produced considerable ore, 125 tons of which sold for $30,000. In 

Quigley Gulch is the Ophir group of mines. There are four claims, 
all showing high-grade galena. They are owned by a Chicago company, are 
advantageously located for working, and there is an abundant supply of wood 
and water. 



THE GREAT" CENTRAL WOOD RIVER REGION. 

Warm Springs Mining District and Ketchum. — Mineral was first found 
on Warm Springs Creek in 1877, by Major Cavanah and Dr. Marshall, on a 
tour through that region from Atlanta ; but no locations were made then, nor 
in fact until after the Indian war in the following year. 

During the seasons of 1879 and 1880 several parties of prospectors found 
their way over from the Salmon River country, and discovered the mineral 
regions of Wood River in general, and large numbers of locations were made, 
several mining districts being organized. 

The upper Wood River region is known as Galena, the lower as Bellevue, 
and the central as Leadville, the name of Leadville being changed by the 



70 EESOURCES OF IDAHO, 

post-office department when application was made for a post-office to that 
of Ketchum, which is now the center of this central Wood River region, 
the most promising and prosperous district in Idaho. Most of the large 
tributaries of Wood .River join in the Warm Springs Creek district, Warm 
Springs Creek itself being the largest, known also as the west fork of Wood 
River, the town of Ketchum being directly opposite its confluence with Wood 
River. 

The north fork, with Lake Creek and Eagle Creek, join the main rivei 
above Ketchum, and the east fork, Greenhorn Creek, and Deer Creek below 
Ketchum. All of these tributaries, especially the main forks, have sources 
fully 25 miles from their confluence with main W r ood River, and from their 
mouths to their sources are lined with vast growths of timber, fir and black 
pine predominating, mineral being found in abundance on all. 

The first mineral locations were made on Warm Springs Creek, about 12 
miles from its mouth, on what is known as Boyle Mountain, and the producing 
mines of the Philadelphia Mining and Smelting Company, the Warm Springs 
Consolidated Mining Company, the Black Horse Mining Company — all foreign 
incorporations, based on property in the vicinity — have made the Wood River 
region prominent ; such as the Ervine and Ten Broeck of the P. M. & 
S. Co., the Ontario of the W. S. Consolidated Mining Co., and the Black 
Horse Mine. Large quantities of high-grade lead ores have been taken from 
these and various other mines in this vicinity. 

The extensive concentrating works of the Warm Springs Con. Co. , under 
the able management of Col. J. H. Moyle, turn out many tons of most perfect 
concentrates from lower-grade ores daily. * 

The numerous warm springs on this creek are a source of much wonder- 
ment, the principal of which, one mile from its mouth, has become a prom- 
inent resort, known as the " Guyer Hot Springs," owned by I. I. Lewis and 
Capt. Henry Guyer, both prominent mining men. 

A large hotel and various other buildings and bath-houses, both tub and 
plunge, have been erected, and a town-site surveyed and platted, called " Sar- 
atoga." 

On the bench or table-land at the mouth of Warm Springs Creek are situ- 
ate:! the reduction works of the Philadelphia Mining and Smelting Company, 
the largest enterprise in Idaho, consisting of four large smelting furnaces, five 
roasting furnaces, twenty charcoal kilns, with all the latest modern appliances 
for moving ores and material, lighted by electricity, and facilitating the man- 
ufacture of bullion. 

These works have been in successful operation for nearly three years, and 
in that time have sent out several thousand tons of fine lead and silver bul- 
lion, the season of 1880 showing a manufacture and output of over 3,000 
tons alone, and all from ores produced in the immediate vicinity of Ketchum. 

The location of these works, at the confluence of Warm Springs Creek 
and Wood River, is all that could be desired, the site in itself being perfect 
for convenience, power, proximity to timber, wood for fuel, and the various 
fluxing materials, lime and iron being found in abundance in the immediate 
vicinity. 

The situation, with all its facilities, is the envy and admiration of smelting 
and ore-reducing men from every place. 

Smelting the high-grade lead ores of this region has been considerable of 
a problem hitherto, abounding, as they do, in sulphur, with some zinc, ar- 
senia, and other base metals, which somewhat retard and obstruct the free 
manufacture of bullion. Coke in large quantities has been found necessary, 
which had to be brought from Pennsylvania, and proved very expensive 
before the completion of the railway to the works. It was proved, after a 
Hial of several seasons, necessary to erect roasting furnaces and roast all high- 
•:vlo lead ores before smelting, and prevent the accumulation of matter, 
which was both difficult and expensive to' handle and again reduce. 

But with the completion of the railroad to the works during the season of 
1884, and the erection of the five roasting furnaces, thus insuring cheap coke, 
and transportation hence on bullion, and facilitating the smelting process, a 
grand success of the smelting proposition in Idaho is assured, and the Phila- 
delphia Mining and Smelting Company, after a series of embarrassments and 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 71 

discouraging experiences, now enters upon the fruits of persistent endeavor 
and persevering hope that it richly deserves. 

And their works will continue to grow and expand over their magnificent 
location as the ore production of the surrounding region increases, which it 
most surely will, it being merely in its infancy as yet. 

Among the partially developed and largest ore- producing mines of the 
district may be named the following : 

The Elkhorn mine, three miles east of Ketchum, owned by I. I. Lewis 
and others, which on a scale of limited operations for the past two years, 
never employing more than fifteen men at any time, has turned out a quarter 
of a million dollars' worth of ore, fully two thirds of which is net profit. 

In the same vicinity is the Parker mine, owned by W. H. Watt and 
others, which likewise operated on a small scale for only a year past, has turned 
out almost one hundred thousand dollars' worth of very rich ores. Bordering 
on what is known as the Elkhorn are also found the Baltimore and Victoria 
companies' mines, of which the Baltimore in the past eight months has pro- 
duced in mere development work fully $40,000 worth of ore. 

Other mines and prospects in the vicinity of these, the Back-pay, Noon- 
day, Buckhorn, Quaker City, Independence, Mattie, Keystone, Triumph, and 
many others, have all shipped ore in quantities large and small, but all high 
grade, and all give promise of proving good and permanent mines. 

On the east fork of Wood River the North Star group occupies the fore- 
most place, the North Star itself being an exceedingly large and promising 
ledge, from which an average daily output of forty tons is made. The ore is 
high grade in character but more base than usual in this region, and the own- 
ers, the Philadelphia Mining and Smelting Company, have erected a fine con- 
centrator near the mines, and by a process of concentration dispose of most of 
the base and refractory metals and refuse matter, sending fine, clear concen- 
trates to the smelters. 

The American Eagle and Ketchum mines of this group, with but little 
development, indicate future ore-producing mines equal to any in the 
region. 

The east fork localit} 7 is especially rich in iron, immense bodies of the 
finest fluxing iron being found, which carry a considerable percentage of 
silver. 

The numerous prospects and mining locations along East Fork and its 
sources are bewildering, and in the limits of this work it is impossible to do 
justice to them. 

Opposite East Fork in Greenhorn Gulch are found the producing Imperial 
and Occidental mines, both of which are worked on a very limited scale by 
the independent owners, but make a good showing yearly. Many other 
promising locations and prospects are in the same vicinity. But it would 
be utterly impossible in the scope of this work and of the space alloted to this 
district, even to mention all of the ore-producing mines, large and small ; suffice 
to say that within the past three years over three thousand lode-mining loca- 
tions have been made and recorded, and are mostly held and worked, very 
few of them proving barren or worthless. 

The future of the district promises almost anything in the range of the 
wildest imagination, there being absolutely no limit. Every facility is now 
offered for the influx of population and the investment of capital, now 
setting in strongly. 

The Union Pacific Railway Company, in the progress of construction of 
their great north-west through line to the Pacific coast, had their attention 
drawn to the Wood River country by the great immigration thither, and 
large freighting business done and promised, and as soon as the Oregon Short 
Line Railway had reached a desirable point for a branch divergence to the 
Wood River region, it was made, and in August last completed to Ketchum 
the present and probably permanent terminus. Passenger and freight trains 
now arrive and depart daily from and for all points east and west by a thor- 
oughly equipped and perfectly constructed standard-gauge railroad, with all 
modern conveniences and comforts. 

Ketchum is a natural railroad terminal point, situate in the center of a 
broad, beautiful, well-watered valley, with routes, roads, and trails diverging 



72 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

in all directions to numerous mining camps and mountain towns and villages ; 
in the main inaccessible to railroads, especially standard -gauge lines. 

The town lies on a high level gravel bench at the confluence of Trail Creek 
with Wood River, and opposite the mouth of Warm Springs Creek. The 
Wood River Valley for fifteen miles below from its mouth to fifteen miles 
above is a grand, unbroken, almost level valley > with an average width of one 
half a mile, and an average elevation of £,500 feet above sea-level, susceptible 
of agricultural production of almost all the staple grains, vegetables, and 
fruits of the Middle and Northern States, with but little irrigation, for which 
there is abundance of water, and which the lay of the land renders easy and 
inexpensive. The lands have all been surveyed and platted by the govern- 
ment, and are open to location and settlement under the various acts of Con- 
gress, and much has been settled upon and improved. All of the potatoes, 
onions, and vegetables consumed in the country are produced, and hay of most 
excellent quality is a natural production of rank growth. In the mature 
spring-time the whole valley is a very Eden for stock, and the region abounds 
in game of all kinds. 

Into this beautiful valley came the first settlers, mainly mining prospect- 
ors, only four years ago, and where then only existed smiling inviting nature, 
now loom up the works of man on every hand: railroad, telegraph, telephone, 
electricity in harness, water power utilized, and the homes of several thousand 
pioneers and prosperous settlers, engaged in agricultural, manufacturing, and 
mining pursuits. 

The town of Ketchum is now a thriving community of 2,000 inhabitants, 
the registered male voting population being 517 in the town alone. Buildings, 
first of log and stone, later of lumber from the numerous saw-mills in the 
town and vicinity, and progressing in fine substantial brick business blocks 
and houses. Three good churches, a large public school, with male and female 
teachers, benevolent and social organizations, three banks, one a national, a 
daily and weekly newspaper (the Ketchum Keystone), and almost one hundred 
mercantile, manufacturing, and trading enterprises. Life and activity on 
every hand, and naught but indication and promise of the prosperity of all 
the people. The town site was located under what is known as the old ten- 
dollar-lot law, or act of Congress, which allows each inhabitant two lots at 
the minimum price of ten dollars each, where the size does not exceed 4,200 
square feet. Lots were surveyed larger in the Ketchum, and the price fixed 
by government at fifteen dollars each. The town plat contains 1,600 lots, 
which have all been taken and located by actual settlers, and improved in the 
main by erection of business houses and homes, many of them fine and sub- 
stantial, comparing favorably with cities and towns decades older, East and 
West. 

Rhodes Addition to Ketchum. — The original town site having been all 
taken up, and occupied by actual settlers, it was found necessary by the rail- 
road company, on the completion of their railroad, to establish its terminal 
point, sidings, reversing tracks, depot buildings, engine-houses, and machine- 
shops, at a point convenient and adjacent to Ketchum, which was determined 
to be immediately north of the now four-year-old town, and in the line of its 
growth and expansion, on lands belonging to the Alturas Land Improvement 
and Manufacturing Company, an organization incorporated by the owners of 
the lands in the valley north of Ketchum, who having acquired lawful titles, 
and surveyed and platted a beautiful addition to the older town, named Rhodes 
Addition to Ketchum, after the president of the company, James M. Rhodes 
of Philadelphia, who is also president of the Philadelphia Mining and Smelting 
Company. 

This addition consists of a tract of 1,000 acres of land, and is handsomely 
laid out along the steppes or benches of x'ising ground, receding from Wood 
River, the railway company's tracks, works, and buildings occupying the fore- 
ground, with all the attachments, surroundings of forwarding houses, ore- 
sampling mills, lumber, wood, and coal depots, etc. Six beautiful wide straight 
avenues, over two miles in length, named respectively Idaho, Arizona, Wyo- 
ming, Washington, Oregon, and Montana, extend along the vallej 1, north from 
Ketchum, intersected by cross streets numbered to twenty-six, so far as pint tod ; 
the surveyed portion containing 2,000 most desirable business and residence 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 73 

lots, and all so arranged as to result in a charming city in the near future. 
It is claimed that past progress and present indications insure it being the 
metropolis of Wood River and central Idaho. 

The managing agent for the sale of lots, Major Win. Hyndman, is authority 
for the statement that they are in active demand, sales in large numbers being 
made, a reasonable price being fixed to encourage settlement and induce im- 
migration. 

There is no more favorable or promising point in the States and Territories of 
the west for founding a home. Surveys have been made for water- works, which 
will be constructed early next season, an abundant supply of clear mountain- 
spring water having been secured from Lake Creek, two miles north, to furnish 
water for irrigating and manufacturing purposes and domestic use; a line of 
pipes being also contemplated to the hot springs to carry hot water for house- 
hold use, bathing, etc. Building material of every kind abounds in the im- 
mediate vicinity, excellent stone, and first-class clay for brick manufacture! 
while Ketchum is the lumber depot of Wood River and central Idaho, being 
at the very door of the vast timber region. No less than six large saw-mills, 
with planing, shingle, and other attachments, being in operation at full capacity 
constantly. 

In view of all the facts, the astounding mineral future foreshadowed, the 
hitherto phenomenal growth and progress, and the wonderful facilities for the 
pursuit of almost every vocation and line of business; there is no more prom- 
ising point in America to-day to cast your lot in than the immediate vicinity 
of Ketchum. It can be reached by the Union Pacific Railway system direct, 
on standard-gauge trains. 

The man of family, or the single person, casting about for a change of 
residence and a start in life, can do no better than strike with all his effects 
and responsibilities for Ketchum, Idaho. 

The Smoky Districts are about twenty-five miles west of Ketchum. 
The ledges are large veins of low-grade galena ore, carrying from twenty to 
fifty ounces silver, and thirty to fifty per cent lead. The Smoky Bullion 
Consolidated Mining Company, a New York corporation, are the owners of a 
group consisting of the Providence, Smoky Bullion, Ophir, Blake, and Wal- 
lace. They have erected one of the largest and most complete concentrating 
mills in the Territory. The machinery is the most massive in use and embodies 
all the latest improvements. 

The Smoky Bullion and Ophir mines yield fine bodies of high-grade 
ore, containing lead, silver, and gold. The Forest, Chance, Buckeye, Fisher, 
and Little Smoky are owned by the Huntington Company of Pennsylvania. 
The Fourth of July yields both gold and silver. The Isabella, owned by 
James McFadden, is probably one of the finest in the district. Several tons 
of its ore yielded several thousand dollars. The ore of the Carrie Leonard 
samples 187 ounce3 silver per ton. There is a regular defined vein, ranging 
from two to four feet in width. 

The Silver Star and Salamander were sold about a year ago to the Phila- 
delphia company for $50,000. There are numerous other locations, such as 
King of the West, Winterest, and Galore, all more or less developed. 

The Galena District embraces the region about upper Wood River, with 
the town of Galena as its distributing point. The chief group of mines is the 
Senate group, owned by the Senate Mining and Smelting Company. The 
Senate, Red Cloud, Chief, None Such, and Kid mines constitute this group, 
and are all rich and permanent-looking prospects. A thirty-ton smelter has 
been built by the company near the property. The President, Delta, and 
Conway Castle mines are owned by the Conway Castle Mining Company of 
New York. The Conway Castle mine is a fire-foot vein. Assays have been 
made of the gangue, which show fifty per cent lead and as high as 350 ounces 
in silver. 

The Dresden mine has a cropping of white lime which is traceable for 
2,000 feet, and so far wherever this cap is removed the galena appears. The 
ore averages about 140 ounces silver per ton. 

Across the divide from Wood River are the Sawtooth mines, which are 
frequently included in the Wood River section, though of essentially different 
character. They are fissure veins in granite, carrying black sulphurets, ruby 
6 



74 RESOURCES OE IDAHO. 

and antimonial silver being free milling but requiring roasting. A ten-stamp 
mill dry crusher has been erected near the Columbia mine, owned by Court- 
wright & Co. of New York. A twenty -stamp mill has been erected at a 
cost of $'250,000 near Vienna, by the Vienna Company, of which Mr. Chris. 
Johnston is superintendent. 

The district is divided into three principal cafions or gulches, known as 
Lake, Beaver, and Smiley gulches. In the first named is situated the Atlanta 
mine, showing a strong vein from four to six feet in width, yielding fine rich 
ore. A quantity of ore was extracted from the Lucky Boy running as high as 
$5,000 per ton. 

In Beaver Gulch, where the town of Sawtooth is situated, one of the ear- 
liest discovered was the Pilgrim mine, which was located in 1879 by four 
immigrants from Nebraska, and sold the same season for $30,000. The vein 
is from ten to twenty-live feet wide. The ore is sulphurets and ruby silver. 
The Bidwell and Beaver extension mines have produced several tons of ore 
assaying from $500 to $2,000 per ton. Fifteen tons of ore from the Silver King 
yielded $500 per ton. In Smiley Canon are located the five claims known as 
the Nellie group. A rich stratum of ore in the Nellie assayed from $70 to 
$3,000 per ton. 

The Mountain King mine has been compared to the great Custer mine of 
Yankee Fork in general formation and character. The vein projects above the 
surface for from two to seven feet. In places the vein widens to sixteen feet, 
five feet of which is ruby sulphuret ore and gold. A shipment of 100 tons 
yielded $240 per ton. The Solace mine is high-grade ore. Thirty tons were 
sold, realizing $10,000. The Vienna is a vein two to seven feet wide, contain- 
ing streaks worth $2,000 per ton. The town of Vienna is the supply point for 
this section. 

The Little Wood River district is about twenty miles east of Hailey. The 
principal mines are the Muldoon group, owned by the Wood River Mining and 
Smelting Company. The company also operate smelting and sampling works, 
which are lighted by a Brush electric light. The company also own a large 
deposit of bog iron twelve miles distant, which is used as a flux. An ore body 
was struck in the Muldoon mine which showed a breast of five feet of solid 
galena assaying 170 ounces of silver. There are a number of other locations 
on which more or less work has been done. 

The Blackburn District is in the north-eastern part of the county. The 
Tyndall lode is the oldest location. The ore is galena, carbonate, gray cop- 
per, with some chloride and ruby silver. Assays yield from 130 to 500 ounces 
silver. Some of the copper ore from the Ingersoll assays 1,000 ounces of 
silver per ton, some as high as 1,500 ounces, and much of the steel galena 
carries over 300 ounces silver per ton. 

Rocky Bar. — This district is one of the oldest in the Territory. The 
Idaho, Vishnu, and the Ada Ellinore have been most productive. The Vishnu 
and Flliuore have each yielded over $1,000,000 in gold. Fifteen miles north 
of Rocky Bar, on the middle Boise\ is 

Atlanta. — The Atlanta Mining District was discovered in 1864 by parties 
of the great wave of placer miners sweeping over Idaho from the north, com- 
ing from Florence and other places in that direction. The great Atlanta 
ledge was located that year from discoveries on what is now the Buffalo and 
the Atlanta mines. These discoveries (which were named from the battle of 
Atlanta) gave the mining district and the town their name of Atlanta. The 
Atlanta ledge, which is an immense fissure, not less than fifty feet wide in 
any place yet seen, with bold croppings for a distance of not less than three 
miles, runs diagonally across Atlanta hill, which rises 1,500 feet above the 
town. The town is situated in a very pleasant valley on the middle Boise 1 
River, eighty-five miles above Boise City, and about eighty miles from Moun- 
tain Home station on the Oregon Short Line Railroad. The only wagon road 
at present runs to the latter place and crosses a high range of mountains. 
Steps are now being taken to build a wagon road directly down the Boise" 
River to Boise 1 City, which can be made on a good grade, ami is the only 
natural outlet for the camp. This road will add greatly to the prosperity of 
the camp, as it could be used both winter and summer, while the present 
road to Mountain Home cannot. 



BESOURCES OF IDAHO. 75 

The principal mines of the camp are the Atlanta, the Buffalo, the Taho- 
ma, the Last Chance, the Jessie Benton, and the Big Lode. The Atlanta and 
the Buffalo are adjoining mines on the Atlanta ledge, and have been worked 
the most extensively, and so far have proved the richest in the district. 
Both mines have steam hoisting works, and working shafts down 500 feet. 
There has been taken from the Atlanta mine up to date about SI. 200, 000 
worth of high-grade ore, as follows : about 700 tous averaging $S00 per ton, 
and about 5,000 tons averaging $125 per ton. Large amounts of lower-grade 
ore have been left standing in the mine, owing to a lack of cheap methods of 
milling. The Atlanta Company has now about completed a new dry-crushing 
silver-mill of fifteen tons capacity per day. 

The Buffalo mine has produced a large amount of ore similar to the 
Atlanta, and has a ten-stamp dry-crushing silver-mill which has been in opera- 
tion for the past six } r ears. 

The Tahoma mine is proving itself to be among the best ore-producers in the 
camp, having started up a new ten-stamp wet-crushing silver-mill last spring, 
which has been running continuously since, crushing about eighteen tons of 
ore per day. These three mines are the only ones operating continuously at 
present; but the Last Chance (owned by the Atlanta Hill Company), the Big 
Lode, and the Jessie Benton have produced very rich ores, and are likely to 
prove valuable properties. The Last Chance Company have commenced the 
erection of steam hoisting works, and have a working shaft down 150 feet. 

The formation of the district is granite, and the ore principally ruby and 
native silver, with sulphurets carrying a large per cent of gold. 

The present prospects of the camp are very bright indeed. 

Camas Prairie, already mentioned, is not to be confounded with the 
prairie of the same name in Idaho County. It is about twenty miles west of 
Bellevue and Hailey. It is about thirty miles long and half as wide, and has 
been termed the "cream of the land of Camas Valley." Along its southern 
portion runs Camas Creek, a tributary of Wood River. The whole prairie is 
magnificently watered, and in season covered with a luxuriant growth of 
grass, making it a paradise for stock. The soil is a rich black loam about 
twenty inches in depth. Irrigation is said to be unnecessary, for the reason 
that there is a heavy clay subsoil which holds water and moisture. The 
resources of Camas Prairie have been thus described : "The numerous creeks 
which are flowing through the valley keep the clay soil wet, so that however 
dry the top soil may look, you will always find plenty of moisture within a 
few inches of the surface. In demonstration of this fact we have only to say 
that water in endless quantities can be found almost anywhere on the prairie, 
at a depth of from two to eight feet below the surface. Many settlers have 
wells with sufficient water for all stock at that depth. This condition of soil 
renders the lauds of this prairie very productive. Immense crops of oats, 
wheat, barley, and all small grain, and all kinds of vegetables and fruits, can 
be grown easily and to great profit. The natural grasses yield wonderful 
crops of hay; and tame grasses, wherever tried, flourish amazingly. Timothy, 
alfalfa, and clover have been sown, and have proved to be big croppers and 
very hardy in growth. We know of fields of timothy which were sown on 
sod, that yielded two to three tons per acre ; tame grasses ami all tine small 
grain find their natural elements here, and consequently yield enormously. 
Squire Abbott, one of the residents of Camas Prairie, sowed one pound of 
wheat, which he received from the East, and on harvesting and cleaning up, 
realized one hundred pounds of nice, clean wheat. Barley sown on sod this 
year produced from fifty to sixty-five bushels to the acre, without any irriga- 
tion. Potatoes planted in the same way, without irrigation, produced from 
one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty bushels to the acre. All 
kinds of garden vegetables, such as beets, turnips, per.se, beans, onions, cab- 
bages, etc., are successfully and very profitably cultivated ; the crop is 
monster, the quality 'par excellence,' and the market for all that is not 
needed for home consumption is sure and at paying prices. In fact, the soil 
of Camas Prairie cannot be excelled in any State or Territory in the Union. 

" Timber. — The mountains in the north are covered with a heavy growth of 
pine timber, thus giving plenty of w >od for fuel and lumbering purposes. Two 
or three saw-mills are here, from which good building and fencing lumber can 



76 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

be obtained for from $20 to $40 per 1,000 feet. This is another inducement 
for settlers to come and locate here, as fuel is so handy and cheap. In the 
hills surrounding the prairie are found the choice grazing lands of the country, 
where stock find good living and keep fat all the year round. Cattle, sheep, 
and horses require but little prepared feed here, and scarcely any shelter, 
the bunch-grass of the hills affording splendid feed all through the year. 
There can be no doubt that this valley will prove a wonderful agricultural 
belt, and that it is the spot for all new-comers in search of a pleasant home or 
ranch to put their stake. No more fertile or productive lands can be found in 
Idaho, where such a diversity of crops can be raised with so little labor and 
expense. 

"To all in search of a place to make a new home, and who contemplate 
locating lands, we say, Come to this section of Idaho and take an observation 
of Camas Prairie and its wonderful resources. Here a poor man can, with 
little means, but with plenty of spirit and 'go-aheadativeness,' soon surround 
himself with all the comforts of life." 

Several settlements have sprung up on Camas Prairie within the past two 
years. 

The first house in Soldier City was built about the 24th of June, 1 884. This 
town is situated about in the center of the prairie, is distant about 30 miles from 
the Wood River mines, 18 miles south of the Little Smoky Mining District, 
and 45 miles north of Shoshone. There is a fine market, and a good outlet for 
any thing that can 'be raised. Lumber sells for $20 per 1,000 feet; shingles, 
$3.50 per 1,000 ; fence-posts, 8 cents apiece ; wood, $4 per cord. 

A Good Place to Grow up in. — Alturas County offers opportunities to 
the capitalist, to the agriculturist, to the miner, to the business man — briefly, 
to all classes of people. The region is yonng, hardly touched, filling up rap- 
idly with the very hardiest and most enterprising people, and the opportuni- 
ties for all are such as cannot be equaled anywhere. To the rustling, energetic 
young man in search of a location where he may "grow up with the country," 
we most emphatically and confidently say: "Come to Alturas County, 
Idaho." It matters not what you can do, what profession or vocation you 
may follow, you will do well if you are determined to succeed. 



BEAR LAKE COUNTY. 

Bear Lake County was organized January 5, 1875. Estimated number of 
acres of land under cultivation, 9,000. The cereals that return the largest 
profits are wheat and oats, although barley is grown at a fair profit in some 
localities. Eye is also grown in limited quantities, but is not very profitable, 
owing to the slow demand. The average number of bushels of cereals and 
vegetables to the acre are as follows : wheat, 25; oats, 40 ; rye, 40; barley, 
30 ; potatoes, 75. 

The average weight of measured bushels of the various products is as 
follows : wheat, 60 pounds; oats, 37 pounds; barley, 50. Rye is not grown 
in any locality as an industry. The number of pounds of flour usually made 
from a bushel of wheat is 36. 

This valley is not adapted to the growth of fruit trees, except the hardy 
kinds of apples and plums. Many of our settlers are sanguine of success in 
the growth of fruit; but at present very little has been done by way of experi- 
ment. The hard winters are not so fatal to our fruit trees as is the action of 
the sun and snow in the spring, which tends to scorch the bark and injure the 
tree when the sap is running up. Some fair apples are raised nevertheless. 
Berries do well, and yield abundantly; strawberries grow very prolitically and 
yield a large profit to the growers; raspberries are a prolific growth also, and 
yield large profits; gooseberries grow thriftily, and are well adapted to this cli- 
mate; currants do well, and the English varieties yield abundantly; the kind 
known as "native currants" are a remarkable variety, and grow to an enor- 
mous size, and are very hardy and prolific. Some have been measured and 
found to be two and a half inches in circumference. In some localities vines 
thrive and do well, especially where they are protected by the caflon breezes 
and adjacent mountains from early frosts. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 



77 



The estimated number of acres of arable land not under cultivation is 
10,000. 

The industrious home-seeker can find a good selection of land to establish 
a home, and every comfort usually found in the valleys of the West. 

The estimated quantity of wild hay land is 20,000 acres. The estimated 
quantity of cultivated hay land is 500 acres. The number of tons of wild hay 
usually harvested to the acre is one and one half tons. The number of tons 
of tame hay usually harvested to the acre is, red-top, 2 tons; timothy, 2 to 3 
tons; alfalfa, 3 to 5 tons. The kinds of grasses that thrive and mature best 
are, lucern (alfalfa), timothy, and red-top; lucerne is a very profitable crop; 
it is cut in some localities as often as three times in the season. 

The grazing land cannot be even estimated in acres. The ranges for hun- 
dreds of square miles are covered with a luxuriant growth of bunch-grass. 
Cattle and horses thrive and fatten, and horses are kept in good condition 
summer and winter on the range. The number of cattle, horses, and sheep 
that our ranges would sustain annually are estimated as follows: cattle, 50,000; 
horses, 1,000; sheep, 50,000. 

The profits stock-growers realize are enormous; it is one of the chief 
industries, and surpasses nearly all the pursuits of the husbandman. The 
present high price of cattle tends to make this industry still more lucrative. 
Cattle usually return 25 per cent per annum on the money invested. Horses 
are very profitable, as it costs but little to raise them. Sheep are a good in- 
vestment, and yield enormous profits in wool and mutton to the grower. The 
climate is mild and salubrious in the summer; the spring and fall seasons are 
short ; the winter is generally severe, although some winters are very moderate 
and even mild. The severe weather usually sets in about the first of Decem- 
ber, and winter usually breaks up about the latter end of March or beginning 
of April ; some winters last till May, but this is exceptional. 

We have no forest timber in the valleys ; our mountain sides and ravines 
are covered with a thick growth of pine, balsam, aspen, mahogany, and 
cedar. The pines are red, white, yellow, and pinion. The cedars are chiefly 
white. The mahogany is properly mountain-box. The pines furnish us an 
excellent article of lumber ; the balsams are manufactured into a fine article 
of shingles ; the aspen (quaking asp) and mahogany make excellent fuel, and 
also the cedars — the latter are also used in manufacturing furniture. 

The mineral resources of the county are not as yet developed. We have 
no mines that pay to work, although galena, copper, iron, and silver-bearing 
lodes have been discovered. The ores are low grade, and owing to high trans- 
portation cannot be profitably extracted. A short distance from Montpelier 
is located a good salt spring, from which is manufactured a good qu lity of table- 
salt. Lime is manufactured in quantities for home consumption. Building 
stone is found of a fine quality, and especially on the east side of Bear Lake, 
where a fine quality of red sandstone exists, and is a handsome as well as a 
durable building stone. 

There are two flour-mills in the county. There are fourteen school-houses 
in the county. There are fifteen churches; fourteen Mormon and one Pres- 
byterian. 

Paris is the county seat. The population of the county is as follows: 



Paris 1,000 

Montpelier 400 

Bloomington 450 

Bennington , 211 

Georgetown 120 

Ovid 125 

Liberty 125 

Total population of county 



Preston .... 
Cottonwood 

Nouna 

St. Charles . 
Fish Haven . 



50 

125 

50 

456 

130 

Ranches, etc 300 



3,5 42 



There are in the county the following stores and manufacturing establish- 
ments: Twelve general stores, two book stores, two drug stores, one saloon 
and billiard hall, one boot and shoe factory, one tailoring establishment, one 
tinner, three harness shops, three steam saw-mills, ten wagon and blacksmith 
shops, five water-power saw-mills, three shingle mills, three lath mills, three 



73 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

planing mills, one wood-turning establishment, three millinery establishments, 
one l)iick yard, one tannery, six dairies, six cheese factories, one watchmaker 
and jeweler. 

Bear Lake County is bounded on the north and west by Oneida County j 
on the east by Uintah County, Wyoming, and on the south by Rich County, 
Utah. Its area is 2,000 square miles. At the south end of the county is a 
beautiful body of fresh water, called Bear Lake. The lake proper is about 
twenty miles in length by eight miles in width. It is divided in the center 
by the Utah and Idaho line from east to west. It abounds in lish of various 
kinds. Several kinds of trout, viz., salmon trout, silver trout, speckled 
trout, ami mountain brook trout, also mullet and white fish, as well as chub, 
are found in abundance. The lake is fed by several mountain streams, and 
these also abound in lish. It has an outlet emptying into Bear River in the 
north. This acts as an inlet in the spring and an outlet in the fall. The 
shores of the lake are sandy and gravelly, and afford a clean and easy ap- 
proach. The water is shallow for a distance of about a hundred yards, when 
it gradually deepens, to an extent not as yet determined. The water is very 
clear, affording a view of the bottom at a depth of ten to fifteen feet. It is a 
splendid bathing resort, and the inhabitants living on its shores delight in 
this exereise, as well as others who visit the lake in the summer from distant 
localities. No doubt can exist in the mind of any one who has visited this 
beautiful lake, but in the near future this will be a favorite summer resort for 
the tourist and pleasure-seeker, and good hotels and -accommodations will be 
provided and the lake decked with sails. The hunting as well as fishing 
facilities cannot be surpassed. Deer, bear, and elk abound within a short dis- 
tauee of the lake, while in the immediate vicinity can be found pheasants, 
prairie chickens, sage hens, rabbits, hares, and several varieties of small 
game. Geese, ducks, pelicans, shypokes. gulls, swans, and nearly all kinds 
of aquatic birds incidental to the Xorth American region, are to be found here 
in abundance. The west and south side of the lake is fringed with timber of 
the cottonwood species ; the north and east side is sparsely bordered by 
willows and a few scattering trees. The lake forms a complete basin, as the 
hills approach it on three sides. Good wagon roads encircle it. and a pleasant 
drive can be had along its shores. It freezes over about January, and con- 
tinues a vast body of ice till April. Wagon or rather sleigh roads cross it 
in various directions, and it forms an easy means of transportation for wiuter 
freights. The Oregon Short Line Railway traverses the county on the east 
side, and Montpelier promises to be a town of no mean proportions. Paris is 
connected with Montpelier by telephone. This line is owned and operated by 
Wonlley Bros., of Paris, who have large mercantile interests in Paris and 
Montpelier. A project is on foot to connect all the settlements by telephone. 
Paris has also an office of the Deseret Telegraph Company, a line running from 
there to Franklin, Oneida County, across the mountains west of Paris. 

Paris is the center of the county, or nearly so. It is divided into two 
wards, and has a good share of the business of the county. A good and sub- 
stantial brick court-house has been lately built here, and a term of the Dis- 
trict Court is held here every six months. 

The altitude of Bear Lake County is 5,900 feet above sea-level, and is 
one of if not the highest cultivated valleys in America. Irrigation is the oidy 
means of producing fertility. The rains during the year fall chiefly in spring 
and fall. For the purpose of irrigating the land, large and expensive canals 
and ditches are constructed, which convey the waters of the mountain streams 
to the benches and lands under cultivation. A very little dry fanning is car- 
ried on, but it is a very scanty and precarious means of obtaining a Livelihood. 

The system of co-operation is carried on in the principal towns, and 
co-operative stores and manufactures are a source of employment and remu- 
neration. The system of establishing and carrying on the mercantile business 
and the various manufacturing industries, such as cheese-making, dairy farm- 
ing, boot, shoe, and harness making, etc., etc., has been demonstrated a suc- 
cess, and the little space afforded here is insufficient to describe its merits. 
The Paris co-operative institution may well be called the parent institution of 
the county, as it has branched out in nearly every industry, and forms a means 
of employment to a great many aj-tisjuis ajad laborers. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 79 



BOISE COUNTY 

Is one of the original counties of the Territory. It is situated north-west of 
Ada, which formerly formed a portion of Boise. It has an area of 3,300 square 
miles, and has been known in mining history chiefly for its placers. 

The history of the discovery of Boise Basin, and of its productions, will 
be found in the chapter on mining. The basin is about thirty miles long, with 
an average width of fifteen miles. It is surrounded by rolling hills, heavily 
timbered. The country rock is granite. Her placers yielded for eighteen 
years an average of more than a million dollars per annum", and some are still 
worked with profit. 

As the placer grounds, however, grew gradually less paying, atten- 
tion was given to quartz, and as it is claimed that the county lies wholly 
within the eastern and western limits of the mineral belt of the Territory, 
there seems no reason why her quartz mines should not produce as great a 
yield as any mineral section in the Territory. 

Quartz Mining. — For a distance of forty miles or more, a rich mineral 
belt, beginning with Gold Hill, extends through the county. The Banner 
District lies about thirty miles north-east of Idaho City, the county seat. 
Most of the developments have been made since 1878. 

The Elmira Company owns a group of mines, called the Banner, Crown 
Point, Wolverene, Idaho, Star of the West, and the Washoe. In the Banner 
the pay chute is over five hundred feet in length. There are two veins. The 
tunnel struck a vein fifteen inches wide at a distance of eight hundred and 
seventy-one feet; after being driven eight feet farther, it struck a second vein, 
which varies from six to fifteen inches in width. The first vein dips to the 
south, the second to the north. The ore is chloride, occasionally black sul- 
phurets, antimonial, ruby, and native silver. The Crown Point is opened to 
a depth of over four hundred feet. 

The following statement of assays was furnished by the assayer of the 
company: 

Ozs. 

Wolverene 11 *' } ore runs to 6 ' 000 QUnces ' averaging. 70 

Banner, " " 400 " " 49 

Idaho, < " 400 " " 50 

Star of the West," " 200 " " 70 

Washoe, " " 200 " " 50 

There is a fine twenty-stamp mill in connection with the works, besides 
a roasting furnace, and an assay office. 

The Deer Lodge is a comparatively new discovery. Three assays are re- 
ported, as follows: No. 1, $210.25; No. 2, $374.50; No. 3, $1,351.98. The 
average of the rock, taken from wall to wall, was $312.21. Other locations 
in the neighborhood are Monarch, average assay, $219. 12; Homestake, $230. 19; 
Daisy, $G7.54. The Comet is an extension of the Daisy, and the Northwest 
an extension of the Homestake. 

Several locations have been made near the head waters of the Payette, 
close to the county line. Principal among these are King of the Forest, Sum- 
mit, Julia, Mammoth, Romeo, and Benaune. 

The Quartzburgh District, north of Idaho City, has been producing gold 
since 1867. 

Three claims on the Gold Hill lode are owned by the Gold Hill Mining 
and Milling Company, for a distance of 2,900 feet south-west and 1,400 feet 
north-east of the discovery shaft. Perhaps the best description is the following 
from the pen of a well-known writer: "The vein carries two to three feet of 
easily worked decomposed sulphureted quartz, yielding from $10 to $100 per 
ton. Thousands of tons have been worked in the company's twenty-tive- 
stamp mill, giving an average yield of over $30 per ton, while large runs have 
been made yielding from $50 to $100 per ton. The main shaft is down about 
500 feet; from this six levels have been extended along the vein at intervals 
of about seventy-five feet. These various underground openings aggregate a 



80 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

length of over two miles, and have almost universally followed paying quartz. 
The material now being raised from the deep workings pays almost double 
what that did from the surface. Seventy men are employed. 

"There is avast extent of productive ground exposed in the Gold Hill 
mine above the 600-foot level, and the company's product is as steady as the 
returns of interest on our government bonds. Indeed, this success lias been 
almost phenomenal. The mill now at work has run twelve years with only a 
brief stoppage for repairs. It has produced $2,650,000. It reduces the Gold 
Hill quartz at an expense of less than $1.25 per ton. When, occasionally, its 
proprietors wish to do custom-work (crush quartz for other mines), it earns $56 
per day for each battery of five stamps; and yet it is that same old Cobden 
mill which in 1865, in the hands of New York capitalists, made a flat failure, 
and did much to bring Idaho into bad repute as a mining country. Its present 
owners, who are thorough miners and millmen, bought it in 1869, and it has 
paid for itself, and the mine, and all other improvements, a dozen times over. 
About 5,000 tons of refactory ore, worth $30 per ton, lies on the dump; this 
grand reserve will be held, and added to, until the incoming railroads are near 
enough to render the transportation of roasters, salt, etc., and the working of 
that grade of ore practicable. The Gold Hill enterprise is a splendid monu- 
ment to the skill and nerve of the practical miners in charge, and, as an illus- 
tration of what the right men can do with the right machinery in Idaho, is 
the pride of every citizen." 

The Gambrinus District is eight miles from Idaho City. The Forest King 
mine is a twenty-foot ledge, cut up with paying veins. It is gold-bearing 
quartz, averaging from $25 to $30 per ton. A new five-stamp mill has just 
been erected during the past season, making very successful runs. The Gol- 
conda is a similar formation. It also has a five-stamp mill, and the owners, 
Monroe & Company, intend to erect hoisting works in the spring. 

The Silver Chief is also owned by Monroe & Company. The latest clean- 
up, taken from a depth of three hundred feet below the surface, yielded $109 
per ton; one bar assayed $1,294. The fineness of the silver is .951, which is 
extra fine. 

The Trade Dollar is a new discovery, having been located late in the fall 
of 1884. Its ore assays $41 gold and $55 silver. 

The Mammoth mine is on Summit Flat, owned by Willson & Whitney; gold- 
bearing quartz, same character as Golconda. There is an eight stamp mill. 
A small force of men took out $60,000 during the past summer. It is an old 
discovery, and has always paid well. Vein averages about two feet. 

The formation of all these mines is contact vein between porphyry and 
granite. 

Placers. — The chief placer grounds at present worked in Boise County 
are owned by Mr. Ben Wilson of Pioneer, who was one of the first men to 
introduce hydraulic mining in the basin. He now controls forty ditches, 
aggregating over one hundred miles in length, and covering nearly twenty 
miles of mining ground. He runs nine giants (one man with a giant is said to 
be equal to 100 men with picks and shovels for ground sluicing), two derricks, 
and a saw-mill, where, during the mining season, two men saw from 3,000 to 
5,000 feet of lumber per day, which is all consumed in flumes, sluice-boxes, 
out-buildings, etc. Mr. K. P. Plowman's gravel claim is on East Hill, near 
Idaho City. The bank, which is nearly 100 feet high, is worked by a "Little 
Giant" hydraulic. This claim in 1883 averaged a yield of $2,000 per week. 
Messrs. Buzzini & Co.'s gravel claim is on the hillside south of Moore's 
Creek. The gravel bed is eighty feet deep. Their claim is about half a mile 
in length with a width varying from 400 to 600 feet. The ground pays hand- 
somely, and it is said there is enough of it at the rate it has paid so far to yield 
nearly a million dollars. 

W. B. Noble has a fine claim at the head of Grimes Creek at Grimes Pass. 
There are two ditches taking water from Grimes Creek, one two miles in 
length, the other three. There is a saw-mill in connection with the claim, 
which manufactures all the lumber needed. Day and night shifts are working 
constantly, and it has paid well for a number of years. 

On Ophir Creek near Placerville is Henry Reed's hill claim. The gravel 
is from ten to sixty feet deep. There are two machines at work, one for washing 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 81 

and one for cleaning up. The water is carried from Ophir Creek through a 
ditch six miles long. 

JB. F. Channel's claim at the head of Willow Creek on the summit between 
Idaho City and Centreville, has paid well for several years, yielding about 
$10,000 a season. The water is brought through a ditch twenty-five miles 
long. 

East of Placerville is the Granite Creek Ditch Company's claim, which 
yields from $15,000 to $20,000 per season. The gravel bank is from twenty- 
five to forty feet deep, and is worked with little giants. The Ranch Com- 
pany work a large claim on Granite Creek Bar. 

A company of fifty Chinamen are working a claim in the bed of Granite 
Creek. It has been worked for fifteen years, and yielded $25,000 a season. 

In Deadwood Basin two placer mining companies are at work. The 
quartz ledges are but partially developed. 

There is still a large amount of gold and silver in the bed of Moore's 
Creek awaiting the arrival of capital and enterprise. The project of a bed- 
rock flume has been discussed for years, but has never been put in practical 
operation. There is said to be an extent of six miles in Moore's Creek and 
one mile in Elk from its junction with Moore, that may be treated as ground 
that can be prolitably worked through a bed-rock flume oil a large scale. 
These seven miles will average more than GOO feet in width and twelve feet in 
depth of tailings, top dirt that was stripped off of bottom gravel in early 
days, and occasionally new ground. The lowest possible estimate of the 
amount of gold contained in this seven miles of creek will exceed eleven 
million dollars, besides what is contained in the thousands of acres of low bars 
and flats which skirt the creek, and cannot now be worked for want of fall "or 
dump. In addition to this amount of gold, it is estimated safely that 100 tons 
of quicksilver lie so intermixed with the tailings that a company working the 
creek would have the advantage of at least a hundred thousand dollars' worth 
of this article so indispensable in the working of mines. 

Timber. — Next to its mineral, Boise" County is pspecially rich in its mag- 
nificent timber. It is estimated by the best-informed residents of Bois6 
Basin, we are told, that there are at least a million acres of fine, heavy pine 
timber lands accessible in the water-shed of Boise" River. Besides the vast 
amount of merchantable lumber, there is apparently no limit to the amount 
of post timber. The opportunity offered to the immigrant to get his lumber 
and fencing cheaply is an important item. On the Payette River, in fact in 
nearly all sections of the country, are forests of pine and fir, clear and of the 
finest kind for lumbering. 

Agriculture. — Notwithstanding the average high altitude of the county, 
farming and stock-raising are becoming important industries. Garden and 
Long valleys both present rare opportunities for ranching and stock-raising. 
Grain and cereals of all kinds are produced. The first named is about fifteen 
miles north of Placerville, near the Middle Fork of the Payette. Long Valley 
is seventy-five miles long and about fifteen wide. It is traversed longitudi- 
nally by the North Fork of the Payette. There are few settlements. The 
soil is rich, and offers excellent inducements to those desiring to go into the 
business of dairying and stock-raising. 

Upper and Lower Squaw creeks and Horseshoe Bend form one continu- 
ous valley country, where grain can be liaised in abundance, and where there 
are ranges capable of sustaining many herds of stock. 

Towns. — Idaho City, the county seat, dates its existence back twenty 
years. Its population has been fluctuating, sometimes counted by the thou- 
sands, at others by the hundreds. Three times reduced to ashes, it has been 
as many times rebuilt. It now contains several stores of all kinds, a bank, a 
semi-weekly newspaper (the Idaho World), a good school, churches, Masonic 
and Odd Fellows lodges, and the usual accompaniments of a mining town. 

Quartzburgh, Placerville, Centreville, Pioneer, and Banner are flourishing 
mining camps. 

CASSIA COUNTY. 

Cassia County is one of the southernmost counties of the Territory, lying 
between Owyhee and Oneida counties, and bounded on the north by Snake 



82 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

River, which separates it from Alturas. The county was organized in 1879, 
and the county seat established at Albion, by a vote of the people, on the 
second Monday of June of that year, at which time, also, a set of permanent 
county officers was elected to take the place of the temporary officers 
appointed and provided for by the act organizing the county from a portion 
of Owyhee County, approved February 20, 1879. 

The new county assumed a portion of Owyhee's debt, amounting to ten 
thousand dollars, seven thousand of which has been paid up to the present 
time, by the sinking fund provided for that purpose. In addition to this, the 
county has incurred a debt of about twelve thousand dollars, existing in the 
shape of county warrants, bearing interest at ten per cent per annum. The 
finances of the county have been extremely well managed, and the credit of 
the county is on a firm basis, county scrip being worth eighty-five to ninety 
cents on the dollar. 

At the time of its organization, the county contained a population of 
about one thousand. There was a small settlement in Marsh Basin, a few 
families on Cassia Creek and Raft River, four or live houses on lower Goose 
Creek, and as many at Oakley, on upper Goose Creek, a small settlement on 
Rock Creek, and one on Dry Creek, and quite a number of miners along Snake 
River, at Salmon Falls, Shoshone Falls, and Bonanza Bar. In 6ve years the 
population has increased to over three thousand ; the assessed valuation has 
increased from $199,409 in 1879 to $597,171 in 1884; and every interest of 
the county has flourished. 

The area of the county is 5,100 square miles. Of this at least one half 
is good stock-range, which is capable of supporting well twice the amount of 
stock that it now supports. Of the remaining one half, the larger portion is 
high mountains, where horses range to a considerable extent. A small portion, 
about 50,000 acres, is under fence; and about 10,000 acres of this is under cul- 
tivation, the remainder being hay and pasture lands. 

The county is essentially a stock-growing county, and as such ranks among 
the first in the Territory. There are some fine agricultural districts, however, 
and for the production of grain and some kinds of vegetables no part of the 
country can surpass it. 

The topography of the county is varied, rising gradually from Snake River 
south to the Utah line, where it becomes very rough and mountainous. Numer- 
ous spurs shoot out from this region toward Snake River, dividing the county 
into numerous valleys of greater or less extent, widening toward the north, 
and opening out into the broad valley of Snake River. Raft River Valley, 
occupying the eastern portion of the county, and extending north and south 
entirely through it, is for the most part a grazing country. It has an average 
width of from ten to twelve miles, and although a considerable portion of it is 
worthless for agricultural purposes — and apparently for any purpose — the 
stunted growth of white and yellow sage, which gives it so much the appear- 
ance of an absolute desert, makes it one of the finest winter ranges in the Ter- 
ritory. There is a narrow strip of land along the river, however, varying from 
one to three miles in width, consisting of good agricultural and natural hay 
land. There is plenty of water, and some good land yet unoccupied. There 
are four or five hay-ranches under fence, consisting of from 500 to 5,000 acres 
each, and the foot-hills on either side of the valley afford extensive summer 
ranges for stock. Sublette Creek, coming in from the east, waters a fine little 
valley about three fourths of a mile in width, and five or six miles in length, 
where fine crops of grain are produced. 

That part of Raft River Valley known as Lower Cassia Creek, which takes 
its name from a stream that comes into Raft River from the west, is fast being 
settled for farming purposes. Grain has been produced abundantly there 
during the past season. At the head of Cassia Creek, about ten miles south- 
west of where it empties into Raft River, is the largest settlement in the val- 
ley. Looking down upon this settlement from the south stands Independence 
Mountain, the highest point in this region, being 10,000 feet above the sea. 
About five miles down the valley, on Connor Creek, is pointed out the spot 
where General Connor had his famous battle with the Bannocks and Shoshones 
in 18G4. On the opposite side of Independence Mountain, on the head waters 
of Raft River, in the vicinity of what is known as the Cove, and about threa 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 83 

miles north of the City of Rocks, are the remains of rifle-pits and earth-works, 
of some rods in extent, to mark the place where a whole train of emigrants 
were massacred by Pocatello and his warlike followers in 18G2. Here is a 
broad valley or basin, just above the Ratt River Canon, and near the Utah 
line, which contains about thirty settlers, who raise good crops of grain and 
grass, and whose cattle, horses, and sheep grow fat on the surrounding ranges, 
and bring wealth and plenty to the settle rs. 

About ten miles north-west from Independence Mountain, and about fif- 
teen miles from Snake River, is Cloud Mountain, about 9,000 feet above the 
sea, looking down to the north upon Marsh Basin and Albion, the county seat. 
Diverging from this mountain are two low ridges or spurs, extending one to 
the north-east and one to the north-west, inclosing Marsh Basin, and almost 
coming together again six miles to the north, leaving only a narrow goige, 
through which the basin is drained into Marsh Lake, and thence through Canon 
Creek into Snake River. Marsh Basin is a circular valley, about six miles in 
diameter. There are about 2,000 acres under cultivation in the valley, which 
give excellent returns in grain, hay, and vegetables; while the surrounding 
ranges support a few head of horses and cattle belonging to the settlers. 

Passing over a low ridge to the west, we come to Goose Creek Valley, 
which extends north and south from Snake River to the Utah line. This is 
the most extensive valley in the county, and one of the finest in the Territory. 
There are now over 3,000 acres under cultivation, and with the water that is 
in Goose Creek it is thought that 10,000 acres can be cultivated. The valley is 
about live miles in width at its southern extremity, and widens quite rapidly 
toward the north, until it opens out into Snake River Valley. Extending from 
Snake River up Goose Creek is a body of over 200,000 acres of the finest land, 
that only requires water to make it one of the best agricultural districts in 
the Territory. Several attempts have been made to organize a company to take 
out the waters of Snake River for the purpose of irrigating this tract, but as 
yet no practical results have followed. 

Extending away to the west, for forty miles down Snake River, is a low, 
undulating country, through which extend the narrow valleys of Dry Creek, 
on which are three or four hay-ranches ; and Rock Creek, which is occupied 
by a few settlers who raise good crops of hay and grain. For fifty or sixty 
miles farther to the west the country is rough and broken, until you reach 
Salmon River, in the extreme western part of the county, which affords some 
good hay land, and is the headquarters of some extensive stock-growers. The 
larger portion of the western half of the county is rough and broken, ami con- 
tains no agricultural land to speak of, but affords extensive and valuable stock- 
ranges. 

Climate. — Our climate in the winter is cold and changeable. The amount 
of snow-fall in the valleys is not very extensive, but immense quantities are 
accumulated in the mountains, which afford vast stores of moisture for the 
growing crops when the hot days of summer come. We have a great deal of 
rain in the valleys during the winter season, or from about the 1st of Novem- 
ber to the middle of April. During the remainder of the year rain seldom 
falls, except occasionally a shower or two about the 1st of July. Consequently 
no crops ordinarily can be raised without irrigation, although during the past 
season there have been exceptions to the rule. Our climate is remarkably 
healthful. 

Schools. — Our school system has been much neglected, perhaps necessarily 
so, from the neAvness of the country and the scattered condition of our popu- 
lation ; but under the county superintendency system the condition of our 
schools has been much improved. The school tax has been much increased, 
and a growing interest is being manifested by the people. A move has been 
made to establish a good school at Albion, and it is hoped we shall soon have 
a school that will be a credit to the county. The county is divided into 
twenty school districts, and each settlement has a school within a reasonable 
distance. 

Mills. — There is at present but one flouring-mill in the county, but an- 
other is in course of construction, and will be in operation before spring. 

There are three or four saw-mills located at different points throughout 
the county, which furnish a fair quality of lumber. 



84 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

Timber. — Black and red pine and balsam fir are the principal kinds of 
timber from which lumber is made. Good sawing timber, however, is getting 
scarce, although there is plenty of an inferior quality to furnish the county 
with rough lumber for a long time to come. The supply for fuel is inex- 
haustible. Cedar grows abundantly on the low mountains, and there are large 
bodies of pine of small growth farther up on the mountains and in the canons. 
There is some mountain mahogany, and nut or pinion pine, both of which 
make a very superior quality of fuel. 

Grain. — There were about 10,000 acres of grain raised in the county this 
season (1884). Wheat averaged 35 bushels, oats 55, and barley 40 bushels to 
the acre. This was over an average year, however, and the general average 
would be about 30 bushels of wheat, 45 of oats, and 30 of barley. As high as 
120 bushels of oats and 72 bushels of wheat to the acre have been raised this 
season. 

Wheat weighs 60 to 65 pounds to the bushel, and oats and barley are 
proportionally heavy. The production of flour is about 40 pounds to the 
bushel of wheat. 

Timothy. — As a hay-producing country this has few equals. Timothy 
especially produces almost beyond reason. I have seen heads of timothy 
eleven and twelve' inches in length, and whole fields of it with heads six to 
eight inches long. It produces, when well watered, three to four and 
one half tons of hay to the acre. 

Alfalfa. — As a hay-producing plant, alfalfa, or lucerne, or French clover, 
as it is often called, is even more productive than timothy. Two crops are 
taken from the same ground during the season, averaging from two and a half 
to three tons each to the acre. When once well established, it will produce a 
fair crop with very little or no irrigation. 

Vegetables. — Most vegetables do well here, but for vines the seasons are 
generally too short, although in some localities fine melons and squashes are 
raised. In Goose Creek Valley tomatoes are raised without difficulty, and 
some corn is grown. Potatoes, cabbage, and all kinds of root crops do well ; 
potatoes especially, both in quality and quantity, are excellent. Three to 
rive hundred bushels to the acre have been produced on virgin soil without 
manure. A number have been exhibited this season from various parts of the 
county weighing from six to ten pounds apiece. 

Fruit. — All kinds of small fruit produce abundantly. Currants of a wild 
variety when cultivated grow literally as large as gooseberries, and gooseber- 
ries as large in proportion. The growth of these kinds of fruit is something 
remarkable. Strawberries and raspberries flourish and produce an excellent 
quality of fruit. Apples, pears, etc., have not been tried sufficiently to judge 
of their production. Some trees have been planted during the last two years, 
and there are also one or two orchards that are bearing slightly. The fruit is 
fair and free from worms. The trees that have been planted make a vigorous 
growth, and look healthy and thrifty. It is believed that cherries and plums 
will thrive, but our winters are most too severe for peaches. 

Stock. — There are in the county about 50,000 head of range cattle, 5,000 
head of horses, 50,000 head of sheep, and 800 head of Angora goats. The 
latter were lately brought in from Nevada by J. S. Harris, who is an original 
importer from Asia. 

Some pains are being taken to improve our native stock. Frank Gwin has 
imported a number of Spanish and French merino bucks for his herd, and 
other parties have gone to some expense to improve the quality of their wool. 
James Pierce has brought in a number of Hereford bulls and cows from Illi- 
nois. Keogh Bros, use shorthorn bulls in their herds, and have some very 
good grade cows. Col. P. L. Wood has introduced a hue Maltese jack, and 
J. E. Harroun, E. A. Jordan, and S. J. Nutt have some fine stallions of the 
Hambletonian and Norman breeds. 

Mines. — There is a mineral belt extending through the southern part of 
the county, which bids fair to develop some good mines. There, are a num- 
ber of prospects, some of which are considered valuable, although none of 
them have been thoroughly developed, and there are no paying quartz mines 
in the county. The Vipont mine, situated twenty miles north-west of the 
City of Rocks, was sold a year ago for $10,000. On the east slope of 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 85 

Independence Mountain are the Corinne and the Hawkins, from which are 
shown some very good specimens, assaying $150. They have not been 
thoroughly prospected, but the Corinne mine was recently bonded for $20, 000. 
Near the eastern border of the county, in the Black Pine Mountains, is a mine 
from which has been taken some very rich ore of ruby silver ; and a quartz 
mill costing $25,000 has been erected there. As yet, no considerable body of 
the ore has been struck, although several shafts have been sunk, and a 700- 
foot tunnel run. 

Marble. — Marble also, of good quality, has been found to exist in this 
region, about twelve miles north-west of the City of Rocks. Another ledge, 
of superior quality, has been discovered in the north-eastern part of the coun- 
ty, near Fall Creek. 

Mica. — At the City of Rocks, in what is known as "The Circle," is a 
mica prospect, which is thought to be valuable. Sheets a foot in extent are 
obtained, which show a quality of mica which may prove to be of commercial 
value. It is tough and transparent, but with a slight tinge of brown, however. 

Placer Mines. — The Snake River placer mines have for a number of 
years been the subject of a great deal of attention. All the richest deposits, 
however, have been worked out, and the problem now is how to save the fine 
gold, together with the valuable ingredients of the "black sand," which are 
found almost universally in the gravel banks along Snake River. 

A large amount of money has been expended in experimenting, but no 
process for saving all the gold, that is practicable and cheap, has yet been dis- 
covered. The Midas Company has erected on its property, twenty-five miles 
from Albion, machinery that cost $60,000, by means of which it is claimed all 
of the gold and the black sand are saved, but the expense of running it is too 
great to warrant a continuance. Other parties have experimented with simi- 
lar results. What is known as the " blanket process " is now considered the 
best. By running the gravel over common burlap sacking, through variously 
contrived sluices and boxes, most of the gold is saved, and at little expense. 
A number of bars are being worked in the county by this process, with good 
results. The amount saved per day to the man varies from three to fifteen 
dollars. The following description of coal prospects in the county was kindly 
furnished by Mr. C. D. King : 

These mines are situated in Cassia County, Idaho, 16 miles south of Oak- 
ley, on the west side of Goose Creek. The principal bed has an elevation of 
5,000 feet above the sea, and 250 feet above Goose Creek Valley. 

The carboniferous formation extends over an area of perhaps 20 miles 
square ; the principal outcropping besides those of the main beds on Goose 
Creek are to be found on Trapper Creek and on Grouse Creek, where a limited 
amount of fine coking coal has been found. 

The coal of the beds on Goose Creek is pronounced by experienced geolo- 
gists to be a brown lignite, and similar to the famous German brown coal. It 
is of an excellent quality for heating, steam, and gas purposes. The beds, ten 
in number, vary in thickness from 3| feet to 18 feet, and lie in two distinct 
series, with 75 or 100 feet of sandstone between. All the parting between the 
various veins is of sandstone, and rather hard, requiring no timbering in work- 
ing. One of the beds, and one upon which the greatest amount of work has 
been done, is 18 feet in thickness, with one small parting, showing a face of 
solid coal 14 feet in thickness. Access to the region is easy from two main 
lines of railway, viz., the Central Pacific Railroad, and the Oregon Short Line 
Railroad. From the former the route is up Grouse Creek, and across a low 
pass in the Goose Creek Mountains, and from the latter across the Snake 
River plains and up Goose Creek Valley. 

The history of the mines dates back to June, 1879, when a party of cow- 
boys hunting stock came upon pieces of float-coal, and upon further search 
they found a bed of coal that burned readily at the surface. Shortly after- 
wards, they, with other parties, located the ground and commenced prospect- 
ing and mining operations. Improvements so far made consist in tunnels, or 
drifts, run in the principal beds, and short, open cuts, and facing up of the 
others. I am informed that the company holding these mines intend shortly 
to commence mining and prospecting on a much larger scale than heretofore ; 
and as the working of the beds will be of the least difficult kind, viz., tunneling 



86 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

(the slope of the beds being such that no hoisting or pumping apparatus will 
be required), they hope to be able to show up a fine body of coal at a 
comparatively small outlay. 

The rapid progress of Cassia County in wealth and population proves that 
it presents many inducements to the settler. Fortunes have been accumulated 
in the stock business in a few years, and until recently, since the advent of the 
Oregon Short Line Railroad, grain has brought good returns. There is no 
railroad in the county, but the prospect is good for a railroad in the course 
of two or three years. With the development of our mines, and the increase 
of our agricultural and stock interests, Cassia County is coming to the front; 
and it is hoped in the near future she will be one of the first counties of a new 
and prosperous State. 

CUSTER COUNTY. 

General History and Description. — Among all the inducements held 
forth to settlers and capitalists by Idaho, their promises are nowhere more 
fair and their realization more perfect than in Custer County. Its beautiful 
scenery, its enterprising people, its varied resources, and its brilliant pros- 
pects not inaptly commemorate the name of General Custer, whose dashing, 
romantic, yet productive career has become a part of our national history. 
The mushroom growth of the West is world-renowned, and Custer County is 
a conspicuous illustration. Twenty-five years ago, when placer mining was in 
its prime and quartz mining in its infancy, the territory now embraced in its 
confines was known only to Indians and an occasional party of prospectors 
traveling to or from Montana. To them a wilderness, to the makers of maps 
it was '• unexplored." During a few years subsequent to 18G2, placers were 
actively worked in Stanley Basin, on what is now its western border ; and in 
1SC0 a few venturesome men found rich ground on Loon Creek, nearly north 
of Stanley Basin. For three years a town built thereon flourished with a 
rough population of four hundred to fifteen hundred men, and then its life 
departed as suddenly as it came. In 1870 other placers were discovered and 
yielded handsome returns, but until quartz claimed attention, five years later, 
the region now forming Custer County was practically unknown. From 1875 
to 1870, the fame of its rich mines spread abroad — attracting capitalists and 
increasing its population — until the following year, by legislative enactment, 
Custer County was created ; and for four years it has thrived in all respects, 
with a life distinctly its own. Embracing in irregular outline about 5,000 
square miles, it is as large as the State of Connecticut, and larger than Dela- 
ware and Rhode Island together ; situated in central Idaho, it is within easy 
reach of two railroads, the Utah and Northern branch of the Union Pacific on 
the south-east ; and the Oregon Short Line, Wood River branch, on the 
south-west ; and possessing the elements essential to local support of a rail- 
road, it is but a question of time — ayearortwo — when our "modem civilizer" 
will traverse its entire length. The resources of Custer County are found in 
its mines and its agricultural and grazing lands. The following statement of 
facts easily verified will furnish the best testimony to the inducements offered : 
Mining 1 . — In some States and Territories mining and agriculture, though 
progressing hand in hand, are yet nearly independent of each other. The 
farmer's market is widened by the miner, to be sure ; but not relying on home 
consumption exclusively, he can exist and prosper, although the pick and 
shovelof the miner are silent. Particularly is this true in California, with its 
railroads, its steamships, its Eastern and foreign marts ; but the farmer of 
Custer County is dependent upon home demands, which are great or small 
according to the activity of its mining industry. The prosperity of agricul- 
ture, then, bears at present a pointed relation to the prosperity of mining in 
this county. They must rise or fall together. Hence, mining demands the 
attention of not alone the capitalist, but the farmer, the merchant and the 
professional man as well. Keeping its importance in view, the following 
history of mining — present, past, and prospective — together with statistics 
relating thereto, is given as fully as space will allow : 

Placers. — Beginning with the discoveries in Stanley Basin in 1862, it is 
found they were actively worked for ten years, producing, according to 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 87 

reliable estimates, $500,000 in that time ; since then a few men have worked 
there a few months yearly, producing about $1 00,000 more. To show therichness 
of this ground, it may be stated that in early days one man with a " rocker " 
took out as much as $900 in one day. Loon Creek, before mentioned, pro- 
duced $600,000 in three years. Placers on Yankee Fork were first sucoess- 
fully worked in 1870, and a few men, in brief yearly seasons since, have pro- 
duced at least $150,000. 

Quartz. — Ihe existence of so much gold in the beds of the creeks led to 
the reasonable theory that nature was somewhere hiding away huge ledges of 
mineral wealth, from which the waters had washed away but the outcropping 
quartz. As usual, the placers in those regions stimulated the energy of pros- 
pectors for quartz. In both Stanley Basin and Loon Creek gold quartz claims, 
rich on the surface, have in recent years been discovered, but still await de- 
velopment. From one claim on Loon Creek ten tons of free gold ore were last 
year crushed at Custer Mill, yielding $120 per ton. On Yankee Fork, in 1875, 
the Charles Dickens was discovered ; in 1S76 and 1877 the Custer, Unknown, 
Montana, and other famous mines were found. About this time, the Itams- 
horn and other claims were located in Bay Horse district, followed up by dis- 
coveries at Clayton, East Fork, and Squaw Creek ; and last year important 
mines were found on Lost River. At present there are about 2,000 mining 
locations in Custer County, divided in six prominent districts, viz., Lost Liver, 
on the stage road from Blackfoot to Challis, about fifty miles south of the 
latter; Yankee Fork, thirty-five miles west of Challis; Bay Horse, twelve 
miles up Salmon River, south-west of Challis ; Kinnikinik, sixteen miles south 
of Bay Horse, on Salmon River ; Squaw Creek, four miles farther south ; and 
East Fork, thirty-five miles up the stream of the same name. 

Yankee Fork District. — The group of mines on Custer Mountain, col- 
lectively known to the mining world as the Custer Mine, has been by far the 
largest bullion producer in Custer County. Considerable litigation hung over 
two mines of this group — the Custer and Unknown — soon after their discov- 
ery, and beyond shipping about 320 tons of ore for reduction elsewhere, valued 
at $100,000, there was no work of importance done until 1879, when their 
development was begun by the present owners. In addition to the two named, 
there have been added by purchase, the Grey Eagle fraction between them, 
the Summit, above the Unknown, on the apex of the mountain, and the Grand 
Prize, below the Custer. These mines contained within their boundaries, 
from the top of the Summit, through the Unknown and Custer, to the lowest 
workings in the Grand Prize, a huge vein with regular walls, varying in thick- 
ness from six inches to thirty feet, and carrying chutes of fine ore throughout, 
which in some respects have been a marvel to mining men. Dame Nature, 
usually so chary of her favors in the mineral kingdom, was in an amiable mood 
when she uncovered to the eye of man her treasures on Custer Mountain. At 
the points of discovery on the Custer and Unknown, there were exposed to 
view great quarries of ore, from which, through force of her agencies, the 
hanging wall had become loosened, sliding down the steep mountain. Experts 
were able to recommend fancy figures in purchasing this property, merely by 
estimating the value of ore thus in sight. In 1880, during the skillful manage- 
ment of Colonel William B. Hyde and T. R. Butler, a substantial 20-stamp 
dry-crushing mill was erected, with the usual roasting and amalgamating ap- 
pliances — the machinery therefor being made by Fraser & Chalmers, Chicago. 
This mill, with the addition of ten stamps erected under the management of 
Superintendent William McCaskell, in 1882, has pounded away continuously 
up to this time, with several thousand tons of ore in sight yet to be crushed. 
About 33,000 tons of dry ore have been reduced from the group mentioned, 
and about 900 tons more that were brought from other mines in the district. 
The result has been 1,260 bars of dore bullion, whose assay value approximates 
$3,000,000. The ore, which carries from fifteen to forty per cent of gold, has 
been so free of rebellious metals as to produce bullion averaging nearly 990 in 
fineness. With a milling capacity of over 900 tons per month, it is saved to 
ninety-five per cent of its value, and converted into bullion at a cost less than 
$25 per ton. A Hallidie's wire rope tramway — 3,600 feet long, and carrying 
seventy buckets— delivers the ore from the mines to the mill. J. B. Haggin 
and George W. Grayson, of San Francisco, the principal owners, have benefited 



88 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

this district greatly by receiving custom ores at reasonable rates. The records 
of this property — at present under the management of Chris. Morler, superin- 
tendent, M. L. Crafts, assayer, and C. L. Rood, cashier — furnish in detail an 
exhibit of a remarkable mining and milling operation. 

On Custer Mountain, and to the east and south, are a great many other 
claims — among them the Badger, Continental, Blue Wing, Lucky Boy, and 
Whistler — which have produced good pay ore, and have in sight now large 
quantities of a low-grade character. The Continental has at least $40,000 in 
sight. The Badger has recently sold several hundred tons of good ore to the 
Custer mine, and is now leased to it for a long period. 

On Mt. Estes, five miles north of Bonanza, are situated a number of 
good claims; those which have attracted the most attention being the Montana 
and Whale mines. The former, celebrated for its rich gold ore, is well devel- 
oped by shafts, tunnels, and cross-cuts, and has not only paid handsomely from 
the date of its discovery, but now has fine prospects ahead. It has shipped 
about 720 tons of ore, including 585 tons to the Custer mill, of the gross value 
of $261,000. In addition, there are large bodies of low-grade ore in place, and 
the ore dumps are well filled. It is owned by James Hooper, superintendent, 
J. W. Faulkner, D. Cameron, Amos Franklin, and D. B. Varney. The Whale 
mine, with ore containing almost entirely silver, has not been developed until 
the past few months. With three or four men at work its production has been 
over $15,000. The Charles' Wain, Hidden Treasure, and other good prospects 
are found on this hill. 

Charles Dickens. — As widely known as this celebrated author is in the 
literary world, 'so is the mine bearing his name known to mining men. Situ- 
ated half a mile above Bonanza, on Norton Hill, and traceable east and 
west therefrom for two miles, with a true fissure vein; with ore so rich in gold 
that its discoverers pounded out in hand-mortars during the first month about 
$17,000; and with a system of development more thorough than any other 
mine in this district, it is a property which, with proper facilities, will rank high 
as a producer of bullion. In 1875 the first ore shipments netted 15,000; in 1876 
twenty-three tons shipped to Salt Lake City assayed $17,000; in 1878 an 
arrastra costing $19,400 was erected. Crushing two tons per day, it had pro- 
duced $32,000 in seventy days, at the close of the working season. During the 
summer of each succeeding year the arrastra has been in operation, and in ad- 
dition has made ore shipments to Custer mill and other reduction works. From 
reliable data, the total production in bullion and ore shipments has been 
$500,000. Two tunnels, of a total length of 1,400 feet, follow the vein in 
from the surface, giving the mine at present a depth of 400 feet. Careful 
sampling has revealed thousands of tons of ore in place, worth at a low 
estimate over $300,000 in silver and gold. Ore bins and dumps are full to 
overflowing. All this dormant wealth merely awaits the magic touch of a mill 
to awaken it to its rightful sphere of influence. Originally owned by W. A. 
Norton, John S. Rohrer, and Fred. Phillips, it is now managed by J.W. Ham- 
ilton for J. E. Dooly of Salt Lake City, who is the executor of the estate of 
W. A. Norton, deceased. Other claims contiguous to the Charles Dickens 
require more development to determine their worth. 

The above claims, chosen from among 200 locations, indicate the vast 
wealth lying yet unexplored. Remoteness from railroads has been a great 
drawback in this district; but it is not too much to expect that its future, 
under more advantageous circumstances, will be more brilliant than its past. 

Bay Horse District. — The next to the largest bullion producer in the 
county is the Ramshorn group of mines — the Montreal, Ramshorn proper, 
Utah Boy, and Post Boy — embracing an area 4,500 feet in length on the vein, 
by 600 feet in width. The vein is traceable on the surface continuously through 
the length of the four claims, beginning with the Montreal at the top of the 
hill, and running to Bay Horse Creek. It is in a formation of slate and por- 
phyry, with a general direction of north-east and south-west, and dips 
to the west at an angle of 25° to 30°. Hardly any but assessment work has 
been done on the Montreal. Ramshorn proper is developed by a S)'stem of 
tunnels running into the mountain on the vein, with various connecting winzes 
and raises. The Utah Boy has three tunnels on the vein, each from 100 to 
400 feet long; and the Post Boy, at the foot of the hill, has three tunnels of 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 89 

yet greater length. About 10,000 tons of ore have been extracted from the 
Ramshorn proper, at an average of 120 ounces in silver per ton, carrying 8 
per cent lead, 30 per cent iron, and sufficient silica for self-fluxing. The other 
claims hav r e yielded 2,400 tons of ore, at 75 ounces silver to the ton, with 10 
per cent lead. But little work has been done on any claim but the Ramshorn 
proper, except in recent months. With nearly every working showing fine 
ore in the face, it is a gratifying fact that at no time since its discovery have 
the prospects of this group been better. In the autumn of 18S0 an Omaha 
smelting company put up on Bay Horse Creek a 25-ton smelter, which yearly 
made successful runs on the various ores of this district up to 18S3, when the 
present owners of the Ramshorn bought the old plant, and added thereto 
another stack, with a blast furnace of a capacity in ore, besides the fluxes, of 
40 tons daily. The company buys ore from nearly all the mines in this and 
other districts. A tramway similar to the one at Custer mine, and 3,200 feet 
long, begins at the Ramshorn proper, and delivers ore at the ore-house on Bay 
Horse Creek two miles above the smelter, between these points wagon trans- 
portation being used. Charcoal is used as fuel, and a large flume has been 
constructed down the canon above to convey wood to the coal-kilns just above 
the smelter. Besides the large force of men employed in cutting wood, fluming 
it, and burning coal, there are 125 men on the regular force at the mines and 
smelter. Average cost of smelting, $15 per ton;' mining and tramway, §10 to 
§12 per ton. Owned by J. B. Haggin, J. T. Gilmer, and O. J. Salisbury. It 
is at present managed by the last-named gentleman. 

Three other good mines situated on Ramshorn Hill are the Bull of the 
Woods, Silver Wing, and Skylark. The first is situated about 1,500 feet west 
of the Ramshorn, and is developed by four tunnels 850 feet in length, with a 
few cross-cuts, winzes, and raises. The vein, which carries seams of high-grade 
ore, is not the Ramshorn vein, but is about parallel thereto. The ore thus far 
extracted has averaged 303 ounces per ton in silver, with 30 per cent copper, 
and no lead, and is valued at $91,000. Present prospects are as good as ever. 
The Silver Wing, situated west of the Ramshorn, and owned George L. Shoup, 
Owen Long, James Macnab, Al. Barselou, George Clark, and W.T. Stethem, is 
developed by 3,000 feet of tunnels, etc., and has shipped in three years about 
$100,000. First-class ore averages 1,000 ounces, and second-class 125 ounces, 
in silver to the ton. Work is continuous, with no decrease in ore supply. The 
Skylark, adjoining the Ramshorn on the west and the Silver Wing on the 
south, has developed a cross-vein of the Ramshorn vein, by four tunnels, with 
a total length of 1,000 feet, besides the usual connecting works. It was located 
in 1877, and has produced 212,582 ounces in silver, at an average per ton of 
123 ounces. It is owned by an Omaha company, with A. J. Crook as manager. 
These three mines are in a formation not materially different from the Rams- 
horn, and the ores are also similar, excepting that they carry a smaller per 
cent of lead. 

Two other mines, situated a quarter of a mile above iEtna, that have a good 
record, and will better it, are the Excelsior and the Beardsley. The Excelsior, 
owned and superintended by J. D. Wood, is well developed, having three tun- 
nels of an aggregate length of 800 feet, giving a depth of 277 feet. It has pro- 
duced up to October 31st 2,3S5 tons of ore, yielding nearly 200,000 ounces in 
silver, with 30 per cent lead, and 4 per cent to G per cent copper. The ore body 
now in sight will average from seven to eleven feet in thickness, nowhere being 
less than seven. It has been followed the past summer for 200 feet, and has been 
developed upwards for 40 feet. Competent judges have pronounced it to be the 
finest body of ore uncovered in Custer County, with the single exception of 
the Custer mine. Shipments from it made the past season to the Clayton 
smelter, amounting to nearly 1,200 tons of ore, average 90 ounces in 
silver to the ton. It is in a formation of lime, and has regular walls. The 
Beardsley, owned by J. P. Spaulding and Robert Beardsley, is contiguous to 
the Excelsior, contains the same character of ore in the same formation, and 
all appearances indicate that the Excelsior ore body is continued within its 
lines. It is developed by 300 feet of tunnels, and 300 feet of raises and winzes, 
etc., and has produced 800 tons of ore, yielding 40,000 ounces in silver. Hav- 
ing been recently bonded to the Ramshorn M. & S. Co. for $45,000, active 
prospecting is being carried on to fully develop the mine. 7 



90 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

The Bay Horse M. & S. Co., which constructed the original smelter plant in 
Bay Horse, in 1880 — operating the same until May, 1883 — reduced 6,745 tons 
of ore, mainly from Bay Horse district, yielding 862,126 ounces in silver, or 
an average of 128 ounces per ton. This showing and its subsequent record, 
together with the history of individual mines, must carry conviction to the 
minds of mining men as to the worth and stability of the mineral resources of 
Bay Horse district. 

Kinnikinik. — In 1880 the Salmon River M. & S. Co. began the erection 
of a 25-ton smelter, and operated it, under the management of C. B. Rustin, 
during sixty-six days in the summer of 1881 and twenty days in 1882. The 
works are substantially built on an advantageous site at Clayton. With a 
daily capacity of 23 tons of ore, it produced in 1881 220 tons of base bullion, 
containing 100,000 ounces silver, and in 1882 the production is estimated at 
one fourth this amount. At the beginning of 1884 the smelter and several 
mines were sold to A. J. Crook & Co., with Mr. Crook as manager, who at 
once put the works in shape for a summer's run. From June to October the 
smelter had reduced 1,810 tons of ore, containing 186,841 ounces silver. An- 
other run in November closes operations for this season ; but the present in- 
tention is to conduct the business on a larger scale in 1885 — a plan well war- 
ranted by the richness of the mines in these districts. 

Among the prominent mines owned by the new company are the Ella, 
Overland, Faithful Boy, and Monitor — all on the same vein — carrying a few 
ounces in silver, but worked principally because they contain nearly forty per 
cent iron. They are situated near the smelter. On Poverty Flat, four miles 
distant, this company owns the Silver Bell, Youknow, and Redemption, all 
of them well developed. The last named has produced about 850 tons of ore, 
containing about $90,000 in silver. The Silver Bell in 1881 produced $30,000, 
and has not since been worked. 

Squaw Creek. — Four miles above Clayton is situated the Red Bird, 
owned by the same company. Not only can the ledge croppings be traced 600 
feet in length, and 10 to 40 feet in width, but a shaft sunk 100 feet, and 50 
feet of levels therefrom, are all in ore varying in value from low to high grade. 
The average of ore shipments made this past summer is 35 ounces silver 
per ton, with 35 per cent lead. The Kirk Bros, own the Cinnabar mine. An 
incline 150 feet long is in good ore, and the production has been fully 200 tons, 
averaging 80 ounces silver and 40 per cent lead. 

East Fork District. — The Germania and Arctic were located in 1879, 
and are owned by J. D. Wood. He has shipped from them 600 tons of ore, 
averaging 150 ounces silver, $10 gold, and 55 per cent lead. They are in 
brown porphyry formation, with a true fissure vein, and promise well. About 
one half a mile to the east is the Croesus, with a ledge 7 to 25 feet wide crop- 
ping out the length of the claim, 1,500 feet. A shaft has been sunk 70 feet, 
showing ore in the bottom assaying 100 ounces silver and $20 gold per ton. 
It is an immense lead, with thousands of tons of ore in sight that will average 
at a safe estimate 50 ounces silver and $10 gold per ton. Its owners, J. D. 
Wood, J. W. Birdseye, and William Short, think that cheaper working facili- 
ties will enable the Croesus to earn the right to its name. 

A group of mines one half mile farther east embrace three good claims — 
Bible Back, Idaho, and Tyrolese. The Idaho has shipped 200 tons of ore, as- 
saying 150 ounces silver and $10 gold, with 55 per cent lead ; the Bible Back, 
100 tons of the same grade ; and the Tyrolese, in October, 1884, 30 tons of 
similar character. The little work done on these claims shows fine ore and a 
true fissure vein. The Jefferson, Washington, Sutterberg, Sperling, and 
others have shipped small lots of ore. 

The claims made in behalf of this district would seem extravagant, com- 
pared with total results, if the disadvantages surrounding it were not stated. 
Consider an altitude (at the Germania) of 9,500 feet ; a fall of snow, beginning 
in November, which reaches enormous depths by the following May; a work- 
ing season which lasts about three months in a year. Consider, also, the 
stoppage of all communication in winter with other districts ; the fact that but 
little capital has so far been at the disposal of the mine-owners ; and last, but 
most important, that transportation charges to either smelter range from $-5 
to $50 per ton. But such hinderances would be overcome by reduction works 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 91 

located near the mines, with capital sufficient to provide for winter. And for 
all purposes of mining and smelting there is no lack of water and fine 
timber. 

Lost River Mining District. — Among the principal claims in this dis- 
trict showing galena and silver ores are the Grand Prize, Alice, Mammoth, 
Black Daisy, and Jay Gould — at present not much developed, but showing 
good bodies of ore, assaying as high as 200 ounces in silver and 60 per cent of 
lead. That which has attracted most attention, however, is a group of five 
locations styled the Big Copper mines, viz. : Buena Vista, Golden Wave, Cop- 
per King, Henrietta, and Old Judge. They make a block of mineral ground 
3,600 feet long by 1,200 feet wide. The vein is a contact between lime on the 
east and granite on the west, with a width of 700 to 800 feet. Several strata 
of ore running throughout vary in width from five to one hundred feet, sep- 
arated by porphyry dykes. The ore, carrying sulphurets, black and red oxides, 
carbonates, etc., assays on an average from twelve to twenty ounces in silver, 
and as large a per cent copper. A 30-ton smelter near the copper mines has 
been constructed recently and is now in operation. Supt. Center states that 
the ores, properly mixed, will flux themselves so effectually that forty to fifty 
tons of material can be run through daily. A contract has been signed for 
the erection of another smelter next spring. If the recent discovery of these 
properties be considered, the work already done, the growth of agriculture, 
and increase in population in Houston and the whole valley, prophesy clearly 
the greatness of the future in store for this district. 

Unfortunately the scope of this review is limited to brief sketches of the 
most prominent properties. But in addition to other mines now considerably 
developed, with encouraging results, new " finds " are continually reported. 
From Pahsimari Valley, from Yankee Fork, from the mountains above Chal- 
lis — in short, from every section of the county — come reports merely hinting 
its great mineral wealth yet undiscovered. 

Agriculture ably supplements the mining industry in enriching this 
county. The Salmon River, rising in the Sawtooth Mountains north of 
Wood River, enters it on its south-western border, and pursuing a zigzag 
course in a general north-easterly direction, receives the waters of ten large 
creeks besides the East Fork. These streams, together with Lost River and 
its tributaries, flow through thousands of acres of arable land still uncultivated. 
Since the hand of man is forced to supply what nature withholds, irrigation 
takes the place of rain ; and the water that annually goes to waste would 
make verdant, fruitful valleys out of deserts ; would convert the silence of 
desolation into the sounds from many homes. In Round Valley, containing 
thirty square miles of arable and grazing land, but a small portion has been 
put to human use ; in Lost River Valley, containing (in Custer County) about 
one hundred square miles of arable land, four thousand acres of hay and grain 
will equal the number cultivated this year ; in Pahsimari Valley, containing 
about fifty square miles of arable land, comparatively none is under cultiva- 
tion. Indeed, the assessor's books record only 11,240 acres of land located and 
held in 1883, and but 17,000 acres held this year. There are also small portions 
of land on several creeks that await only human agency to transform their 
barren acres.. A few families have settled in Pahsimari — a valley forty miles 
in length by eighteen miles in average width — but beyond a few tons of hay 
and grain, etc., for home use, nothing has been produced. This valley alone 
will furnish homes and occupation for hundreds of people. The lack of roads 
leading to markets has retarded its development. Lost River, from its source 
to the point where it sinks in the lava beds, runs for sixty-five miles through 
a fine valley rich in natural resources. Since the mining excitement of last 
year, eight hundred people have flocked thither — of whom perhaps one half 
are engaged in agriculture. With homes to build, land to inclose and bring 
under the beneficent effects of irrigation, the new-comers have still found time 
to cut this year about 5, 000 tons of wild hay, and raise 10,000 bushels of grain. 
The grain crop next year will quadruple this amount. Farming in Round Valley 
has been liberally rewarded. The acreage under cultivation has steadily in- 
creased for five years, until this year its contribution to the county's wealth 
is 30,000 bushels of grain and 800 tons of hay — besides thousands of pounds of 
vegetables. The grain crop of 1884 is double that of the previous year. Men 



92 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

who came here penniless a few years ago now own ranches, with houses, 
equipments, and live-stock, which are worth from $3,000 to $15,000. 

Oats is the principal grain raised, being of a very hardy, solid character, 
and for that reason taking the place of barley. Wheat could be raised as 
profitably as oats, if there were only flour-mills in the county to grind it. 
There is no lack of a market, as 400,000 pounds of flour are annually imported 
to meet the consumption, at prices ranging from $4.50 to $6 per hundred, 
according to locality and season. Each bushel of oats will weigh forty-two 
pounds ; and the average yield per acre being thirty-three bushels, it will be 
seen that this is equivalent to forty bushels to the acre of the standard weight 
of thirty-five pounds. Hay yields about one and a half tons to the acre, in 
its wild state. Alfalfa, blue grass, red-top, and timothy have been success- 
fully sown. To farmers in Eastern States the lateness of the harvesting sea- 
son will seem remarkable. The farmer's work, begun the latter part of Alarch, 
is not really ended until the fall plowing is done, in the middle of November, 
and he has no fears if by October 1st his hay and grain are safely under 
cover. The profits accruing to farmers will give no surprise, when it is under- 
stood that oats bring $1.26 per bushel ; hay $20 per ton ; potatoes two cents 
per pound ; cabbage four cents ; onions eight cents ; and turnips one cent per 
pound. Other farm produce is sold as follows : eggs at fifty cents per dozen ; 
butter at forty to fifty cents per pound ; and chickens at fifty cents apiece. Not 
only is a ready market found at these prices, but annually thousands of dollars 
worth of hay, grain, butter, eggs, and poultry are imported from other coun- 
ties, or Utah, to meet home demands. Hereafter, the tendency of prices will 
be slightly downward ; still the margin left for profits will be extraordinarily 
large. 

Although fruit culture has been neglected, 1,200 trees planted in Round 
Valley give evidence that apples, plums, cherries, pears, and crab-apples are 
natural to the soil and climate. Cultivated small fruits, wherever planted, 
have yielded an abundance. Gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, service- 
berries, and currants of three varieties, growing wild and profuse along rivers 
and creeks, intimate the wealth nature has in store for those who woo her. 

Stock-growing. — This business is not less remunerative in Custer County 
than in other stock regions where sudden acquisitions have turned paupers 
into "cattle kings." The highest profits are, of course, realized where the 
climate and snow-fall are such as to demand but little or no cut feed for the 
stock in winter. There are thousands of acres of grazing land in Pahsimari, 
Lost River, and Round valleys — besides small sections in other portions of 
the county — where the stock is not hay-fed oftener than one winter in three ; 
and then only the weakest and poorest cattle during a few weeks of the 
severest weather. It has not been the practice of stockmen to provide even 
to any considerable extent for hard winters. With the grazing lands thus 
limited to low ranges where the snow-fall is light, still the assessment rolls for 
1883 and 18S4 show that about 10,000 head of cattle annually range within the 
county's borders, besides the horses and sheep. This business would remain 
highly profitable, however, if stockmen would yearly prepare to meet the pos- 
sible rigors of winter. The principal expense would be in cutting and stacking 
wild hay. A mild winter would leave a large surplus to carry over to the first 
severe one, thus mitigating its hardships. Such a plan, earnestly carried out, 
would more than double the capacity of its grazing lands : first, by allowing 
an increase of stock in ranges now occupied; second, by opening up thousands 
of acres of new country in altitudes a little higher, whose summer ranges, 
already unsurpassed, would thus be rendered safe for winter use as well. 

Stockmen heretofore have slighted the truth that the Lost River and 
Salmon River regions afford the best fields for successful sheep-raising in the 
West. This branch of industry is certainly growing — evidenced by the fact 
that whereas only 850 sheep were assessed in 18S2, the assessor this year 
found 3,000 head. The number of horses and mules in 1883 was 1,200, and it 
reached 1,600 in 1884. 

Principal Towns. — Challis, the county seat, safely sheltered in the foot- 
hills of Round Valley, invites our contemplation. Being the principal base of 
supplies for the mining regions, the medium of half the business transacted 
in the county, and the especial resort of stockmen and farmers, miners and 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 93 

business men, it forms what may he reasonably termed a cosmopolitan town. 
Particularly is this noticeable in winter, when, because of its educational facili- 
ties and its mild and dry climate, families from points less favored come to 
its pleasant portals. Containing a transient population of 500, it becomes at 
such times the scene of pleasure as well as of busimess. It is laid off in eighty- 
two regular squares, upon a beautiful site, containing nearly 1G0 acres, upon 
which are several hundred buildings. A creek running its entire length is 
fringed with trees and shrubbery, and its general fine appearance maintains 
the wisdom of its choice as the seat of government. Three miles below Challis, 
near the Salmon River, are beneficial warm springs, whose curative properties 
are sought by many guests. The town of Houston, whose existence began last 
June, now numbers seventy buildings, with a population of over 200, and is 
located near the prominent mines. A town twelve miles from Challis, in Bay 
Horse District, presents, inits two names, a striking flight from the depth of 
the Common and vulgar to the height of the aesthetic. Originally known as Bay 
Horse, Uncle Sam refused to enter it on his post-office rolls, and so it now re- 
joices under the classic appellation cf iEtna. Its population varies during the 
year from 200 to more than 500 men, mostly engaged in pursuits incident to 
mining. Small towns exist farther up Salmon River, in the Kinnikinik Dis- 
trict, called Crystal and Clayton, principally of use to the mines adjacent. 
Bonanza and Custer, on Yankee Fork, populated by 200 to 400 people accord- 
ing to season, are exclusively mining camps. They are reached on wheels 
only through Challis. In picturesqueness of location and in admirable summer 
climate, they claim superiority over any other towns in Idaho Territory. 

General Statistics. — A prudent man, before investing in business in st 
new county, will carefully scan, not only the evidences of growth, and the 
resources of particular localities, but will desire to know of the prosperity of 
the county as a whole. A few figures will express a chapter. From the as- 
sessment rolls are obtained the following : In 1881 the valuation of real 
estate and improvements was $162,000; of personal property, $199,000; total, 
$361,000. In 1882 the valuation of real estate and improvements was 
$157,000 ; of personal property, $232,000 ; total, $3S9,000. In 1883 the valu- 
ation of real estate and improvements was $183,000 ; of personal property, 
$412,000 ; total, $595,000. In 1884 the valuation of real estate and improve- 
ments was $216,000 ; of personal property, $434,000 ; total, $650,000. 

From the preparations now being made for development of mines, con- 
struction of reduction works, and increased tillage of land, the proportionate 
increase of property shown above will be maintained for several years. From 
all sources, there has been collected for county and territorial use the follow- 
ing revenue : For 1881, $10,000; for 1882, $14,000; for 1883, $24,000; and 
for 1884, $27,000— making a grand total of $75,000. With the increase of 
taxable property, the expenditures have remained about the same ; hence 
taxes decrease yearly, and will so continue. 

Schools, Hospital, Mails, Crime, etc. — Creditable to Custer County is its 
plethoric school fund. With about 200 school children divided between 
five school districts, there is an annual surplus of money ranging from $2,500 
to $5,000. Almost equally good is the maintenance of a county hospital, with 
first-class surgical attendance, whose kindly protection many an unfortunate 
has reason to bless. And correlative to the educational advantages afforded is 
the insignificant criminal element among the population. A small jail and 
short terms of court fully provide for the welfare of offenders against society 
and law. The people do not differ in character from that of the average 
Western community. Their standard of education, their enterprise, and their 
desire for knowledge are gauged by the immense amount of reading matter 
daily unloaded at the Challis post-office — now the distributing point for the 
county. It is the beginning or terminus of six mail routes, weekly, semi- 
weekly, tri- weekly, and daily. In addition, a six-day service will soon be es- 
tablished from Ketchum, on the Wood River Railroad, to iEtna. A weekly 
newspaper is published at Challis by R. A. Pierce & Son. 

Climate, Timber, etc. — As already intimated, the snow-fall in winter 
throughout the lower valleys is not of consequence ; but it gradually increases 
with altitude until in the mountains it reaches great depths. At Challis, 
with 7 an elevation of 5,100 feet, sleigh-rides are well nigh impossible ; while in 



94 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

Bonanza, nestled at an elevation of 6,400 feet, in the very bosom of a moun- 
tainous country, the snow attains a depth of three to five feet in its streets. 
Generally, two short rainy seasons occur in a year. A brief polar wave of cold 
sweeps down in January or February ; but it is a subject of general comment 
that 30° below zero in this high, dry air, with no wind, is far less penetrat- 
ing than the cold of Eastern States — damp, windy, chilling. The summer 
months are pre-eminently delightful : cool nights, days warm, mild, and in- 
vigorating, are better appreciated through experience than description. 
Probably one fourth of the mountainous territory of this county is heavily 
timbered with spruce, fir, pine, and occasional mahogany. In all the bene- 
fits of abundant wood and water, Custer is no exception to the other counties 
in Idaho. 

A General Recapitulation of the foregoing shows that Custer County has 
added to the wealth of the world $1,350,000 in gold from its placers; and 
from its quartz mines the large sum of $6,800,000 in gold and silver at assay 
value. With but two smelters in operation a few months, and one mill at 
continuous work, this year's production will approximate $1,500,000; while 
new works finished and others planned will increase this amount by one half 
in 1885. The old mines in the county show permanancy, and new ones are 
discovered every season. The valne of stock on its ranges easily represents 
the worth of $360,-000. The value of its agricultural products for 1884 will 
equal $175,000 ; an amount that will be doubled in a few years. Its popu- 
lation has steadily grown until it reaches about 2,000. 

With large tracts of farming and grazing land uncultivated ; with a list 
of taxable property annually lengthening with giant strides ; with increasing 
revenue and decreasing taxation ; with good schools, and little crime ; with 
stock-ranges of luxurious vegetation ; with an admirable climate favorable to 
health ; with a fertile soil, rich in fruitful products ; and with a vast mineral 
wealth in lead and iron, copper and the precious metals — Custer County is 
blessed with natural gifts and advantages that will prove its brief though 
vigorous existence to have been but a puny part of its progressive career. 



IDAHO COUNTY. 

This county occupies a vast region about midway between the northern 
and southern boundaries of the Territory. Its present area is 10,100 square 
miles, or nearly as large as the combined areas of New Jersey, Delaware, and 
Rhode Island. 

I acknowledge myself indebted in great measure for some of the statistics 
regarding this county to the report of a well-known mining gentleman to the 
director of the mint. 

Idaho County was originally the largest county in the Territory. Lemhi 
and Custer counties were cut off from its eastern end. Boise County has 
taken a strip from its southern portion, and one half of Washington County 
was originally within its limits. On the other hand, it gained in 1875 a strip 
from the eastern side of Nez Perce" County, comprising the agricultural section 
known as Camas Prairie, and the mining camps of Elk City and Newsome 
Creek. 

The only agricultural portion is Camas Prairie, on its western border; 
here there are six entire and several fractional townships of arable land, that 
produce all the usual cereals in profusion. Its elevation is not over 2,500 
feet. Along Salmon River there are also a few isolated flats of small extent, 
which are devoted to gardening and fruit-raising. 

The county is watered principally by the Salmon River and its tribu- 
taries, the eastern and southern boundary being the water-shed between the 
branches of the Salmon and the head waters of other streams. The northern 
portion is drained by some of the forks of the Clearwater. 

Salmon River cuts a deep chasm through the county from south-east to 
north-west. Its valley is from 3,000 to 4,000 feet lower than the average alti- 
tude of the mining camps scattered through the adjacent mountains, causing 
a marked difference in climate. In the winter snow rarely falls before February, 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 95 

and frequently the ground is not whitened during the year, while in the 
surrounding raining camps the snow covers the mountain sides from 4 to 8 
feet in depth. 

Idaho County is, however, essentially a mountainous region, the prin- 
cipal portion of the Salmon Eiver Mountains being included within its 
boundaries. These mountains are in no well-defined range, bat are a vast 
collection of irregularly scattered peaks, overtopping a wilderness of lesser 
peaks, all of a rugged and forbidding aspect. The average altitude is about 
6,000 feet, though many peaks have an elevation of nearly double that height. 

The town of Florence is situated 6,600 feet above the sea level, and War- 
ren 6,200 feet. 

The Salmon River Mountains are chiefly of granite formation, and appear 
to have been upheaved at a comparatively recent geological period. 

The deep canon of the Salmon River affords numerous excellent oppor- 
tunities for studying the character of the subjacent rocks, as surfaces are 
frequently exposed from 1,000 to 2,000 feet high. 

At a point on the river near the mouth of Little Salmon, hornblende 
slates begin to take the place of granite, and gneiss farther to the eastward. 
There is an obscure stratification and a general north and south strike. 

A few miles farther west, at Carver's ranch, a huge ledge of very pure 
limestone crosses the river ; it is from 100 to 500 feet wide, and extends in a 
general northerly and southerly direction for about 40 miles, finally dipping 
under the lava a short distance east of Mount Idaho. 

West of this, other varieties of slate, mica, and clay make their appear- 
ance, with occasional bunches of quartz, and at the mouth of John Day's 
Creek the primitive rocks disappear beneath basaltic lava, and are no more seen 
in the bed of the river from thence to the Pacific Ocean, except in one place 
in Snake River, about 50 miles below Lewiston, at Granite Point. 

The soil of Camas Prairie is derived from the decomposition of lava, 
identical with that which overspreads most of the Columbia River Valley. 
Many fossil remains are found in digging wells, but no minerals of value, nor 
are any likely to be. The mountainous region to the eastward of the lava 
and the anterior slate formation is probably the source of the mineral wealth 
of the county. 

Gold in paying quantities was first discovered in Idaho near Pearce City, 
in what is now Shoshone County, in 1860. At that time Idaho was still a 
portion of Washington Territory. Communication from point to point was 
slow and difficult, and there was no great rush of miners, nor any great 
amount of money taken out during that year. By the following spring 
reliable information of extensive deposits in that section was widely spread, 
and the search for gold was diligently prosecuted. 

Gold was found in the banks and bars of all the forks of Clearwater, and 
led to the discovery of extensive placer ground at Elk City. Paying ground 
was also found in many places on Salmon River, and early in July in Florence 
Basin, in which place thousands of mines were located in a couple of months. 
On the north side of the Salmon nothing worth mentioning was or has since 
been found. South of the Salmon gold was found in August, 1862, in War- 
ren's Basin, which is drained by Meadow Creek and its tributaries, and 
empties into the Salmon River 16 miles north of the town of Washington. 

At the present time the ground worth working comprises the upper eight 
miles of the creek. The shallower portions of the creek and neighboring 
gulches were worked out in a few years after the discovery of gold. The 
lower portion of the creek was not abandoned by white men until 1870, at 
which time the Chinese came in and have since monopolized the gravel- 
workings, going over the mining ground a second and sometimes a third time. 

The lodes of the Warren district vary but little in course from east to 
west, with a dip to the south from 60° to 75°. They are usually narrow, 
seldom exceeding three feet in width of ore, and often having less than two 
feet. The country rock is granite, and vein matter is quartz, carrying, in 
addition to gold and silver, zinc, blende, galena, and antimony, though but 
sparingly. 

Iron in sulphurets or more or less oxidized is found in all the vein's; 
tellurium, as telluric gold and telluric silver, is found in the Keystone ; and 



96 RESOURCES OE IDAHO. 

tungsten, as tungstate of lime or scheelite, occurs in some quantity in the 
Charity; previous to its discovery here this mineral had not been observed in 
auriferous ores. 

Cinnabar occurs in nearly all the placer claims; at Miller's Camp, 20 miles 
west of Warren, it is found in such quantities as to prove troublesome in 
washing for gold, filling the riffles where gold should lodge ; although the 
vein or lode has been persistently sought for, it has not been found. In one 
gulch pieces of iron ore containing from 10 to 50 per cent of gold have been 
found, but its source has not yet been traced. Tin ore has not been observed 
in the gravel, and copper occurs in vein matter only in minute traces. 

At the present time active operations are being carried on only at four 
mines. The Knott ledge, owned and worked by N. B. Willey, is three 
miles west of the town of Washington. Running across a ridge at right 
angles, it is favorably situated for working, and can be opened to a depth of 
400 feet by tunnels following the vein. The ore chimney, as at present devel- 
oped, is from a thin seam to six feet in width, but usually is from two to three 
feet. One half goes to the ore-house and the rest to the waste pile. The 
reducing works consist of a five-stamp battery followed by a double arrastra 
run by water-power, and situated about two miles from the mine. The capac- 
ity of the mill is about six tons per diem, and runs but seven months of the 
year. The present -production of the mine is from 30 to 60 tons per month, 
taken only from the first level; if more fully opened, it would yield 15 or 25 
tons a day. The ore pays from $15 to $28 per ton. The cost of extracting is 
$9, hauling $3, and crushing $2.50 per ton. 

The Tramp, one mile from the Knott, owned and worked by Charles 
Johnson, is a narrow ledge, not well defined at the surface, but increasing to 
from four to twelve inches in w>dth at the bottom of the 60-foot shaft. An 
excellent arrastra belonging to the same party is situated three miles from the 
mine, at which the ore is delivered by pack-train at an expense of $5 per ton. 
The average yield is from $50 to $65; the production of ore is, however, 
small. 

The Charity, two miles south of Washington, is owned and operated by 
P. & J. Reibold. It has been prospected by tunnels to a depth of 210 feet, 
the lowest tunnel being 600 feet in length. The present workings are 
confined to the upper levels. The reduction works consist of a five-stamp 
battery at the mouth of the tunnel. There is a large amount of low-grade ore 
with rich pockets here and there. The average yield is $5 to $12 per ton, 
though selected lots have reached as high as $1,800 per ton. 

The President belongs to Carr & Morton; it is a recent discovery, and a 
mine of considerable promise. The vein is from six inches to two feet in width, 
and the ore pays from $17 to $40 per ton. Both the ore and country rock are 
soft and easily worked, and the ledge lies favorably for development. The 
ore is worked in custom mills. 

The Rescue mine is near Washington, and has been the most extensively 
developed mine of any in the district. A tunnel taps the vein at a depth of 
183 feet, at which point a shaft extends to the surface. The hoisting- works 
are of sufficient capacity to sink to a depth of 500 or 600 feet below the tunnel 
level; the shaft is already 120 feet lower, and two levels are opened. A five- 
stamp mill is erected at the mouth of the tunnel. The ore chimney is from 
250 to 300 feet in length, and the ore is all taken out above the tunnel. The 
first 60 feet below the tunnel is also exhausted, and the next level has the main 
shaft sunk and the level run about 70 feet, at which point it is in ore. The 
total yield of the mine has been from $S0,000 to $90,000. The mine is leased 
to a Boston company, who expect to resume operations in the spring. 

The yield per ton from the different ledges of the Warren district has 
varied greatly. Large quantities of rock from the Rescue paid from $50 to 
$75 per ton. Selected ore from the Charity paid from $40 to $S0, and from 
the Scott as high as $180 per ton. The Keystone ore paid quite uniformly 
from $50 to $65, and on the other hand, some lots from other ledges scarcely 
paid for working. 

The average yield of ore from this district is not readily estimated. The 
processes of extraction of the precious metals have been of the simplest charac- 
ter; at first arrastas were used, then stamps with copper plates of limited extent, 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO, 



97 



and at present the arrastra follows the battery, with blanket washings saved for 
future treatment. Assays of tailings have rarely been made, and it is not easy 
to estimate the percentage of gold and silver extracted. 

A close approximation of the amount of ore taken out and worked 
during the last fifteen years is as follows : from the — 



Tons. 

Rescue 1,000 

Knott 600 

Charity 500 

Sampson 250 

Hie Jacet. . 150 

Knott Treasure 25 

Scott 150 

Alder.. 50 

General Grant 50 



Tons. 

Keystone 200 

Eureka _. 100 

Washington 25 

Bonanza 75 

Tramp 100 

President 50 

Bullion 100 

Other small lots and float-rock . . 250 



The ore is generally calcined prior to crushing, and the returns show that 
more silver is saved by this preparatory treatment. Bullion from calcined ore is 
usually from .300 to .500 fine, while that from the raw material is .600 to .650 
fine. The gold from placer mines varies very much in fineness. That from 
the small gulches and heads of the streams is from .625 to .675 fine; in the 
main creek, from .700 to .760 fine, and is the common currency at $14 per 
ounce. A great extent of ground has been worked along Salmon River, princi- 
pally by rockers and other primitive appliances; the gold is usually in small 
particles, known as flour gold, though sometimes in scales; it is current at $16 
per ounce, being from .800 to .825 fine. 

Near John Day's Creek a few bars of limited extent have yielded coarse 
gold, and nuggets of from $5 to $15 each, of high grade, over .950 fine, and 
current at $19.50 per ounce. 

The yield from Idaho County can only be approximately stated. Five 
Chinese companies in Warren's take out more than half the gold of the camp. 
From diligent inquiry made of the principal members, the following estimate 
may be stated as nearly correct: 



Shun Lee Company $7,150 

Wing Wo Company 16,600 

Hung Wo Company 9, 800 

Leni Wo Company 14,250 

Fook Sing Hung 22,700 



Twelve minor companies. . . . $22,800 

Single Chinamen 2, 000 

White men 13,500 

Four quartz mills 18,672 



Total $127,472 

Along Salmon River thei'e are eight bars worked by Chinese, and five by 
white men; the product of the year being about $45,000. Nearly the same 
amount was produced in Florence and Elk City; the smaller camps may be 
estimated at $43,000, making the total production for Idaho County, $260,000. 

The chief agricultural section, as above indicated, is Camas Prairie, esti- 
mated to contain 200 square miles of rich arable land. Small fruits, such as 
strawberries, cherries, etc., grow in abundance. Grain is raised in great 
quantities, oats yielding fifty bushels to the acre. The prairie is about thirty 
miles loug from north to south, and twenty-five from east to west. Bunch- 
grass and timothy abound, making it one of the best pastoral sections of the 
Territory. Horses and cattle thrive well, with little expense to the owners. 
The camas roots furnish excellent feed for hogs during a great part of the 
year. 

Little Salmon Valley is about 75 miles south of Florence. It contains 
about 75 sections of good arable land, and produces an abundant crop of 
grass. It is one of the best watered sections of the Territory. Timber is 
plenty and of the best quality of pine, fir, and tamarack. The valley is capa- 
ble of supporting at least 300 families. It is of rich, fertile soil, capable of 
producing all kinds of cereals and vegetables ; while on the surrounding foot- 
hills are unlimited pastures for stock. The valley is almost entirely unin- 
habited, and is but awaiting the arrival of settlers to develop its agricultura 1 
wealth. 



•98 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

The chief settlements are Mt. Idaho, at the edge of Camaa Prairie, and 
Grangeville, four miles distant. The former is the county seat, possessing a 
handsome court-house, several stores, and a commodious hotel. Grangeville 
is a rapidly growing farming settlement, and is a distributing point for the 
prairie. 

KOOTENAI COUNTY. 

This is the northernmost county of the Territory, being bounded on the 
north by British Possessions, on the east by Montana Territory, on the south 
by Shoshone and Nez Perce counties, and on the west by Washington Terri- 
tory. It comprises an area of about 5,530 square miles. As already stated, 
it is the chief lake county in the Territory. Within its limits are lakes Cceur 
d'Alene, Pend d'Oreille, Kanisku, Kootenai, Cocollalla, and numberless 
others. These will be found sufficiently described in the second chapter. 

The county occupies the " pan-handle" proper of the Territory, and is in 
form nearly a rectangle. The Northern Pacific crosses it from east to west, 
and attains its most northerly point at Lake Pend d'Oreille. Though one of 
the earliest-created counties, it was not organized till 1881, shortly after the 
arrival of the Northern Pacific. 

Timber. — It has been a greal wonder to many that larger and more pow- 
erful saw-mills have not been erected on the beautiful streams in north 
Idaho, for there are mill-sites which for every convenience, both water and 
fine timber, cannot be excelled in the North-west. This belt has heretofore 
attracted much attention from careful, far-seeing business men who have come 
out from the East and thoroughly examined the field, and all unite in the 
single opinion that the wonderfnl timber belt of north Idaho is the lumber- 
man's paradise, and that it is equal in extent and quality to that of Minne- 
sota. Wisconsin, and Michigan. In fact, this whole region is one vast forest 
of the finest fir, cedar, tamarack, and pine. On the banks of Kootenai Lake 
there is a large body of fine saw-timber. For miles and miles on each side of 
Pack River there is quite a body of good timber. Pend d'Oreille Lake is sur- 
rounded by timber, and Clark's Fork shows patches of timber along its 
course. 

Yet the most extensive bodies of timber in the great North -wost are found 
on the waters of the Cceur d'Alene, St. Joseph, and St. Mary's rivers. On the 
banks of the first-named immense trees can be seen which will measure from 
four to sixteen feet in diameter, and many thousands of them. 

The St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers have long been known as the timber 
section of north Idaho, which is second only, perhaps, to that on Puget 
Sound. For miles and miles along those streams can be seen giant cedar, 
tamarack, fir, and pine, and it is to tap this wonderful region that the North- 
ern Pacific last year had a preliminary survey run for a branch road from 
Rathdrum to Coe xr d'Alene Lake, there to connect with steamers from the 
upper Maters of the streams named, the company evidently having an eye on 
the future importance of the lumbering interests there. 

While Spokane Falls has been widely boomed on account of its water 
power, very little is known abroad of Post Falls, commonly called Little 
Falls, on the Spokane River, about eight miles below Fort Cceur d'Alene, 
though as a matter of fact the latter is far ahead of the former, because Post 
Falls can be readily and cheaply utilized. The mill-site at Post Falls was 
taken up by Frederick Post in 1871, and at this time he lias a large saw and 
planing mill in active operation. At the back part of this mill one can over-%* 
look Post Falls, and it is the grandest sight it has ever been our pleasure to \-» 
behold. Much has been said of the beauty of Post Falls, yet to be fully ap- 
preciated, one must visit the spot. The water surges and dashes down the * 
canon. The river above the falls spreads out in a quiet, glassy sheet, and 
little does one suspect, except as the sound of roaring waters reaches his ear, 
that such a wonderful water-power is close at hand. Immediately above the 
falls the river is divided by a high, sharp rock bluff, the south branch of the 
river, on the reservation side, descending in a series of ripples cr rapids. The 
other branch over Post Falls narrows down to about thirty feet in width. 



RESOURCES OF IDA BO. 99 

•and makes an abrupt leap of eighteen feet ; then comes a series of falls for the 
next 300 feet, in which the river drops about forty feet. Something like 100 
feet to the north of the falls a canal has been blasted out of the solid rock, and 
then turns its waters into the river just above the lower falls, but before being 
discharged must work the machinery of the mill above mentioned. The 
water-power here is unlimited. 

The towering canon on the opposite side, the great roar of the mighty 
torrent as it leaps over the falls, somewhat resembling artillery, the seething 
waters at our feet, and the spray dashing in one's face like a shower-bath, 
cause many grand scenes of the past to pale into insignificance. Art to a 
certain extent gives an idea, but nature truly furnishes the real. On the 
north bank of the river, just above the falls, there is a beautiful level strip of 
land extending up and down the river for nearly a mile and over one mile 
back from the river, on which, at no distant day, we believe a beautiful town 
will be laid out which will rival Spokane Falls. Across the river, high up on 
the mountain side, springs of ice-cold water gush out which could at but little 
expense supply a town here with pure, fresh water. From the falls to the 
lake, a distance of only eight miles, the river is deep and comparatively quiet, 
the steamer from the lake running to within less that a mile of the Falls. 

The Demand for Lumber. — Several mills are running lower down the 
river on logs secured on the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers. These logs are cut, 
thrown into the rivers named, and run down into Cceur d'Alene Lake, thence 
to Post Falls and still farther down the stream ; yet owing to the rapids 
and eddies in the river between Post Falls and Spokane Falls, it is very expen- 
sive getting the logs to Spokane, and thus it will be readily seen that the cost 
is very much less to hold the logs above than to drive them below Post Falls. 
The demand for all kinds of lumber must increase as the country advances in 
settlement. With the exception of about one hundred and fifty miles along 
the line of the Northern Pacific (almost the whole distance within the lines of 
Idaho Territory), there is comparatively little timber fit for lumber, and 
hence the timber belt of North Idaho must furnish all lumber used along the 
railroad from the Cascades on the west through Montana and into Dakota on 
the east; in other words, several thousand miles of country to be supplied 
from the Cceur d'Alene, St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers. 

Mining 1 . — The advent of the Northern Pacific has rendered easily accessi- 
ble many hitherto unknown mineral districts in Northern Idaho. In Kootenai 
County, fifty miles east of Cceur d'Alene, and near the old Mullan wagon road, 
a vein was recently discovered four feet thick, showing free gold, assaying 
from $60 to $700 per ton. A number of other rich quartz and placer mines 
have been discevered recently in the neighborhood. It is supposed to be a 
continuation of the mineral belt of southern and central Idaho. In the 
mountains about Pend d'Oreille River, croppings of heavy lead' ores, rich in 
silver, have been found, but owing to their remoteness hitherto, but little has 
been done in the way of development. Still farther north, from fifty to one 
hundred miles, is a gold quartz and placer belt. A small amount of work has 
been done on the placers, and still less on the quartz. The whole region 
stretching northward is practically unexplored and unprospected. 

The Sullivan Creek district was visited by Roger Sullivan in 1863, and 
the district was named after him. For many years placer mining was carried 
on to a considerable extent, and much gold-dust and many handsome nuggets 
were taken out. The placer fields cover an area of about twenty-five miles, 
and are advantageously situated for rapid development, the water-fall being 
ample, and it being only two or three feet to bed-rock in the deepest place's. 
§4 The high bars also prospect remarkably well. Very recently rich strikes have 
been made, and during the past fall the region was considerably prospected. 
The indications show large quantities of gold near the surface. 
-* The claims so far opened are near the mouth of Sullivan Creek where it 

empties into Pend d'Oreille River, immediately below the Big Falls. Marvel- 
-ous tales have been told about caves in which fabulous quantities of gold 
have b^en seen near the Big Falls. Making all due allowance for exaggeration, 
there is no doubt a brilliant future for this district. During the past season 
miners flocked in from all directions. The owners of several claims have been 
putting in sluices and running drain ditches for the purpose of opening up 
their recent finds. 



100 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

The Pend d'Oreille mines are about thirty-five miles from Rathdrum by- 
way of Spirit Lake Valley. A road is already built to the valley, ai*l from 
thei^e down to the river is not over fifteen miles. A road will be built the 
regaining distance very readily, as it is an even grade all the way, there being 
no mountains or even high hills to cross. 

Both above and below the Big Falls, as well as in the tributaries of the 
Pend d'Oreille, gold is found in paying quantities. 

Agriculture. — The beautiful prairie reaching northward from Lake Coeur 
d'Alene, though settled but recently, has already proved itself capable of 
raising good crops without irrigation. All kinds of cereals grow readily, and 
as railroad communication has been established, a ready market can be found 
for produce raised. 

Rathdrum. — Among the most promising young towns of Idaho during 
the past year was Rathdrum, the county seat of Kootenai County. Built soon 
after the arrival of the Northern Pacific, its advantages as a distributing point 
for a large scope of country soon became manifest. Some of the richest soil 
in the Territory is in its neighborhood. Crops of finest quality can be raised 
without irrigation. Seventy-five bushels of grain are a fair crop. The 
climate is mild and salubrious. In its vicinity can be found some of the 
finest scenery in the land. Cceur d'Alene and Pend d'Oreille, besides a num- 
ber of smaller lakes, are within easy distance. In September, 1883, the town 
was visited by fire and nearly completely destroyed. It soon recovered from 
this loss, however, and rebuilding began in earnest. 

At the breaking out of the Coeur d'Alene excitement last winter and 
spring, Rathdrum was the chief railroad point of departure for those coming 
from the west. During last February and March, the town was subjected to 
an exciting boom. The streets were crowded with gold-seekers. Every 
available space in the hotels, restaurants, saloons, and stores was occupied 
for sleeping purposes. Houses and stores sprung up like magic. The new 
buildings were of superior and even costly character. Commodious hotels 
and elegantly appointed saloons gave the place an appearance almost cosmo- 
politan, that was strongly in contrast with that of many suddenly developed 
railroad "cities." The enterprise of the citizens was manifested by the intro- 
duction of water through pipes, and brought from neighboring mountain 
springs. A weekly newspaper, the Kootenai Courier, under the editorship of 
M. VV. Musgrove, published to the world the varied resources of the Kootenai 
country. 

In the expectation of a tremendous rush to the Coeur d'Alene mines, 
merchants and business men laid in heavy supplies of goods. After the Coeur 
d'Alene stampede, the inevitable reaction set in, and the busy spring season 
was followed by a summer of unprecedented dullness and quiet. Business 
languished, many of the fine buildings were deserted, and the enterprising 
young town found itself stranded on the reefs of a mining excitement. Just 
at the time when the place was experiencing its dullest and most hopeless 
period, as if to inflict a crushing final blow, the devastating fire of September 
27, 1884, visited it, and within a few short hours transformed to smoke and 
ashes the substantial evidences of the enterprise of the citizens. The entire 
business part of the town was swept away. Two or three firms were insured. 
The rest was a complete total loss. Many of the people were left homeless 
and shelterless. With a spirit of true grit, however, before the smoldering 
embers had cooled, the people set to work to rebuild the town. 

Spirit Valley is north of Rathdrum about 15 miles, and is indeed a charm- 
ing spot. It is about 24 miles long, and averages three miles in width. It is 
covered by the most luxuriant bunch-grass and well watered by mountain 
brooks. Fourteen claims have already been taken and are now being fenced ; 
besides, several comfortable dwellings have been erected, and it is said there 
is plenty of room for 500 more. It will not be long before this valley is settled 
up by a thrifty, enterprising people. 

The Place for a Poor Man. — The Kootenai Courier, to whose editor we 
acknowledge ourselves indebted for much of the foregoing relative to this 
county, has the following sensible remarks for those intending to come to 
Kootenai in search of homes: "North Idaho is no doubt the best place for a 
poor man to get a start of any farming country on the globe, if he is willing to 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 101 

put all his ambition and energy into operatiou, and put up with a few hard- 
ships for a year or two. Men have come here with barely enough money to 
put up their buildings — and some without even enough for that — who are now 
worth thousands of dollars. We do not mean to infer from this that every one 
can get rich here in a year or two — and a great many who came here with that 
idea in their heads have found it out — but we do mean to say that for the right 
kind of a man there awaits him here a bountiful harvest financially. Some 
folks in the East get the notion that they can come here and ' show these fel- 
lows how to run a farm,' whether they ever saw one or not; and imagine their 
surprise when they get here to try it and find that there are just as smart men 
and just as good farmers in Idaho as there are in the States. This is the class 
that aftei-wards go back East and try to run down the country, but all they 
can do does not affect in any way the harvests ; and while they are blowing so 
much about the country, they are only advertising it unknowingly. Then, 
again, there is a class of people who are of a roving disposition, who are not 
contented anywhere, and this class, too, will say all they can against the coun- 
try. Those who beloug to either of these classes are a great deal better off 
where they are ; but to the farmers — those who are willing to settle down and 
grow up with the country, put out shrubbery and engage in general diversified 
farming — we say again, a golden harvest awaits you." 



LEMHI COUNTY. 

Early History, — Prior to the summer of 1S66, all of that part of Idaho 
Territory embraced within the present limits of Lemhi and Custer counties 
was a trackless, unbroken wilderness, over which the foot of the white man 
had not yet passed. The way to it lay over snow-clad peaks, through rocky 
gorges, and over deep and rapid streams, fed by the melted snow from the ever- 
lasting hills. Many a hard day's march, many hardships and dangers, awaited 
him who would wrest from the hands of the savage owner this fair, promising 
region, and open it up to civilization and to settlement. The son of the forest 
was the sole owner and proprietor. What mattered it to him if in every hill 
were veins of gold and silver; if in every gulch and in the bed of every limpid 
stream were golden sands ; had he but a sufficiency of game and fish to satisfy 
the cravings of hunger, and enough skins and furs to shield him in a measure 
from the rude blast, he was content. But a change came over the scene. With 
the discovery of gold in California came an influx of adventurers from every 
land and clime, eager to claim and possess a share in the golden harvest. Cali- 
fornia, with all its wealth of gold and treasure, was too small to contain them. 
Like a vessel filled to overflowing, it could not hold them all ; some drifted 
hither and thither, seeking other fields; some, more daring than others, ventured 
farther into the vast and unbroken wilderness. On every hand new mineral 
fields were opened, and the lucky discoverers rewarded by rich finds. Can it 
be wondered at that, with rich mines on every side, this hitherto unexplored 
country should attract the attention of the prospector, and fill his mind with 
the thought that where there was so much all around it, there must be some- 
thing still better within ? In the summer of 18G6, a party of miners and pros- 
pectors discovered rich placer grounds in the Leesburg Basin, about seventeen 
miles west of the present site of Salmon City. This discovery of rich diggings 
spread far and wide, and attracted a large number of miners and prospectors, 
with whose advent came the first permanent settlement of the country. In 
those early days this was a part of Idaho County, with Florence as the county 
seat. The county seat was over 800 miles distant by the nearest traveled route, 
and for a great portion of the year the condition of the roads and trails made 
communication with Florence impossible, and at best slow and uncertain. The 
creation of a new county became a matter of public necessitj r , and in July, 
1867, a provisional county government was organized, which was, by act of the 
territorial legislature, passed in January, 1S69, permanently established as the 
county of Lemhi, with Salmon City as the county seat. Lemhi County is 
situated in north-eastern Idaho, bounded on the north and east by Montana 
Territory, the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, and Oneida County, on the 



102 RESOURCES OP IDAHO. 

south by Alturas and Custer counties, and on the west by Idaho County. Its 
area is about 4,470 square miles — nearly 3,000,000 acres. Of this vast area, 
about 300,000 acres are suitable for cultivation, and situated in two great 
valleys — the Lemhi and Pahsamari — and numerous small vales along the 
numerous creeks and streams tributary to the main rivers. 

Lemhi Valley, the largest, best settled, and most extensively cultivated 
valley in Lemhi County, is 70 miles in length, and varies in width from 3 to 6 
miles, comprising within its limits bottom and bench lands of unsurpassed 
fertility, adapted by reason of its low altitude and sheltered situation to the 
successful cultivation of all cereals, vegetables, and fruits. From the first set- 
tlement up to the present date, a failure to produce an abundant crop has 
been unknown. The principal crops raised in Lemhi Valley are wheat, 
oats, barley, and potatoes. 

The wheat crop of Lemhi Valley has never yet proved a failure, yielding 
from 40 tc 50 bushels of a fine, hard No. 1 wheat, weighing 58 to 62^ pounds 
to the bushel ; a steadily increasing home demand creating a good market at 
$1.20 per bushel : this has been the ruling price for a number of years. Oats 
have been for years a never-failing crop, yielding from 45 to 55 bushels to the 
acre, of heavy, full kernels, weighing 45 pounds to the bushel, and command- 
ing a ready sale at from 1^ to 2 cents per pound, with a demand always in ex- 
cess of the supply.' 

Barley has been but little cultivated, although as safe and certain a crop 
as wheat or oats, yielding from 35 to 45 bushels to the acre, and selling at 2 
cents per pound. An elevation of from four to six thousand feet above sea- 
level has been proved to be the natural home of the potato, yielding in that 
altitude the best crops, of a superior quality. Lemhi Valley has been justly 
famous for the superior quality of the potatoes grown there, finding a ready 
market and sale everywhere in the mining camps. The yield of potatoes in 
this valley has averaged over 250 bushels to the acre, and the market price 
varies from $1.50 to $4.50 per hundred pounds, according to season. They 
are of exceptionally large size, white, mealy, and delicious. The writer has 
seen some of these tubers weighing four pounds eight ounces, and was assured 
by the producer that he had bushels of the same kind in his field, all sound 
and solid potatoes. During the 17 years in which Lemhi Valley has been 
farmed, no failure of this crop has ever been reported. 

All kinds of garden vegetables, such as pease, beans, tomatoes, beets, 
cucumbers, rhubarb, onions, etc., are successfully cultivated, yielding large 
profits, and the yield everywhere is greater than in other portions of the 
United States. All the produce in excess of the home demand finds a ready 
sale at goed prices. 

Unlike other portions of the United States, where the husbandman puts 
in his crops in the anticipation that beneficent nature will provide the neces- 
sary rain-fall (and in which expectation he is often grievously mistaken, and 
subjected alternately to heavy loss, if not utter ruin by reason of floods or 
drought), in this portion of Idaho irrigation is depended upon to insure the ripen- 
ing of crops. Every eastern farmer who has settled here and made a home 
has, after a trial of this plan, pronounced it as being a decided advantage over 
the unaided process of nature. The moisture so necessary to the growing 
crops can be uniformly applied and regulated, insuring an absolute certainty 
of crop, enabling the farmer to produce a heavier crop, and to secure a larger 
growth. 

By reason of their gradual slcpe, and the abundance of water which can 
be obtained for the purpose, the lands of this valley, and those of the adjoin- 
ing valleys of the Pahsamari, can all be brought under successful cultivation, 
thus offering to the industrious home-seeker an opportunity to make a home 
and rear his family under circumstances and conditions more favorable than 
in any other section of the great West. Hundreds of families can here find a 
home. The margins of the streams are sufficiently timbered for all the neces- 
sities of the settler ; furnishing him with the logs for his house, rails for his 
fences, and fuel for all his present needs. Should in the course of time this 
supply of timber be exhausted by consumption, then the pine-clad hills back 
of the farm will furnish an inexaustible supply of fire-wood, rails, logs, and 
lumber. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 103 

The question of fruit-raising has passed beyond the range of experiment. 
Although little attention has been given to this branch by the majority of the 
settlers here, they deeming it somewhat uncertain, a few more enterprising 
men, foreseeing a source of profit if success should attend their venture, have 
engaged in this pursuit. The first trees were set out in 1873, comprising the 
hardier standard varieties of apples, plums, and cherries. Many of these 
trees were in bearing this season (18S4), and have yielded a goodly crop of good, 
sound apples, free from worms. Orchards have been started everywhere in 
the valley, and in a few years will contribute their share in adding to the 
general wealth and prosperity of the county, besides beautifying and enhancing 
the attractions of the homes of the settlers. 

Butter-making has been for many years one of the most successful and 
profitable industries of Lemhi Valley. The vast ranges in the foot-hills, over 
a million acres in area, are covered with a rich growth of native grasses, 
commonly known as bunch-grass, affording the best pasturage in the world, 
and having that greatest of advantages — freedom to all who may feel inclined 
to utilize it. The cows feeding upon this grass produce an abundance of rich 
milk, thus enabling the dairyman to produce butter of unsurpassed quality 
and flavor. Lemhi Valley butter has a reputation in every mining camp in the 
Territory, and is preferred by all who have once used it over all other kinds 
imported from other localities, and commands the best price. The demand 
has always been in excess of the supply — thousands of cans being sold annually 
at from forty to fifty cents per pound. 

Nearly all the settlers who are now engaged in farming and dairying be- 
gan in a small way; from small beginnings they have grown up with the coun- 
try, and have acquired comfortable homes, and are in every sense of the word 
prosperous, clear of debt, and with money laid by for a rainy day. 

Lemhi County has, as before stated, over a million acres of the best public 
range to be found anywhere on the Pacific slope, the best of pasturage and 
grazing grounds, well watered by never-failing springs and streams, a dry 
atmosphere during summer and winter, curing the rich, nutritious grasses as 
they gi'ow, and which, dry as they are, produce a feed compared with which 
hay and grain sink into insignificance. With mild winters, exceptionally free 
from snows and storms, this part of the Territory is especially and peculiarly 
attractive for the stock-raiser. Here cattle, horses, and sheep can be turned 
out during summer and winter without shelter and prepared feed, the range 
affording feed the year round without cost. This range it comparatively un- 
occupied, and when it is considered that with such natural facilities the cost, 
including taxes, of raising a full-grown steer, worth from $35 to $50, is not 
more than $3.50, and the cost of producing a good horse, worth from $85 to 
$100, is but $6, the profits to be derived from an investment in this industry 
are easily computed. 

Stock-raising has been highly profitable to those engaged in it in Lemhi 
County. The loss of cattle and horses in all these years has not been more 
than three per cent per annum. Those who are now rated as wealthy stock- 
growers in this section made small beginnings, and have grown rich in a com- 
paratively short time. It is capable of accurate demonstration that the profits 
made in this industry annually are not less than thirty-three and a third per 
cent on all capital invested. Wool-growing has not been attempted as yet, and 
the opportunities for engaging in sheep-raising in Lemhi County are as good as 
anywhere in the Territory, there being ample room on the range for thousands 
of cattle, horses, and sheep. 

Beef steers find a ready sale in all the mining eamps at prices varying 
from $40 to $60. Dairy cows are in demand at fro in $50 to $75, according to 
age and breeding. Stock cattle bring from $22 to $28, and yearlings in a like 
proportion. 

The Pahsamari Valley is thirty-five miles in length, and from two to five 
wide, and as yet unoccupied, save by a few stock-raisers. No farming is being 
done there. There is room and land for hundreds of the industrious, who can 
here settle and make homes, and find a ready market for all their produce. 
The same conditions exist there as in Lemhi Valley, the only difference being 
a slightly higher elevation, but all the industries so successfully flourishing in 
Lemhi Valley can be engaged in in Pahsamari Valley with like success. 



104 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

The following grasses are grown in both valleys: timothy, red- top, blue- 
stem, and clover. The yield is from two and a half to three tons per acre. 

Timber. — Around the north fork of the Salmon River, and within thirty - 
five miles of Salmon City, is perhaps the finest body of pine timber in all 
Idaho Territory. Trees three and four feet in diameter, and attaining a height 
of sixty and seventy feet without a limb, are common. All the varieties of 
the coniferaabxe here found. As the forests of the other States and Territories 
are gradually and surely being swept away by the ruthless hand of the lum- 
berman, and converted into building material, this timber region will prove to 
be the source of great wealth to the county at no distant day. It is estimated 
by competent men who have had a large experience in this branch of business, 
that this timber region of Lemhi County is alone capable of supplying two 
hundred million feet of as fine lumber as can be found anywhere in the world. 
Timbers sixty to seventy feet in length, without a knot, can be produced, of 
unrivaled strength and resisting power. As New England has by reason of 
its water-power attained and still holds the front rank in the manufacturing 
sections of the United States, so will this portion of Idaho in some future day 
become a manufacturing center; with clear, rapid streams on every hand, of 
sufficient force and fall to turn the wheels of hundreds of mills, the eyes of 
capitalists cannot and will not fail to observe these advantages. It is esti- 
mated that Salmon River alone can furnish the. power to run all the spindles 
and looms of New England. Lemhi River has a fall of about 1,800 feet in 50 
miles, and along its banks are hundreds of favorable locations for mill-sites, with 
ample water-power for all possible needs and demands. The facilities for 
cheap production are here; it needs but the introduction of capital and enter- 
prise to lay the foundation for a great and prosperous community. 

The tourist will find in the limits of this county some of the finest and 
grandest scenery on the entire Pacific slope. It is admitted that some of the 
most picturesque mountain scenery is seen on a trip from Salmon City along 
Salmon River to the mouth of the North Pork, and from thence up that 
stream to the head waters and the mines of Gibbonsville. The sportsman can 
here find all the varieties of game common to this mountain region, from the 
grizzly, the king of the Rockies, down to the agile and sportive jack-rabbit. 
All the mountain streams abound with that most toothsome of all fish, the 
mountain trout. The salmon, salmon-trout, and red fish are' found in great 
numbers in Salmon River at their proper seasons in the year, affording unlim- 
ited sport for the disciple of Izaak Walton. 

The denizen of the crowded and heated cities in search of a cool and shady 
spot for recreation and leisure can here find all that he could wish for; a 
rarified, dry, pure atmosphere, with almost constantly bright, genial sunshine, 
pure water, moderately warm days, and cool nights. While his luckless friend 
or neighbor is doing some fashionable watering-place or summer resort in the 
East, penned up like a sardine in a box, in an over-crowded hotel, broiling 
in the sun by day and sweltering in the sultry heat by night, he is enjoying 
sunshine without excessive heat, and delightfully cool nights. 

Mining' Industry. — Lemhi County is situated in what is now acknowl- 
edged by all experienced mining men to be the richest mineral field of the 
Rocky Mountain region. On the north and east the Bitter Root and the main 
chain of the Rocky Mountains form its northern and eastern boundary for a 
distance of nearly two hundred miles, on the south and west the famous Sal- 
mon River Range, with its many spurs, forms its southern and western boun- 
dary. Within these ranges, and entirely within the county lines, fifteen min- 
ing districts have been organized within the boundaries, in which both placer 
and quartz mining are extensively and profitably carried on. The oldest of 
these districts, and from the discovery of which date the first settlement and 
subsequent prosperity of the county, is the Leesburg or Nappins mining dis- 
trict. In the summer of 18G0, rich placer mines wei*e found, and claims were 
staked and preparations made for their early development. The fame of 
these new discoveries spread with its usual rapidity, and a stampede from 
the surrounding country at once was started, bringing into the region a mul- 
titude of miners and others eager to secure some of the riches scattered broad- 
cast by the lavish hand of nature. This district embraces all the country 
drained by Nappins, Camp, Rapp, Arnetts and Big creeks, with all the bars 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 1C5 

and gulches tributary thereto. Its production in gold has been about $500,- 
000 annually from 1867 to 1873, being for the period of seven years the princely 
sum of $3,500,000. Since 1873, when many of the claims were bought up by 
large companies and consolidated for the purpose of working the ground by 
putting in bed-rock flumes, the yield has been less. In this way nearly all the 
claims became absorbed, and are now being worked by these large companies, 
many of whom have ground enough to last for several generations. The an- 
ual yield since 1873 has been about $300,000, making for a period of eleven 
years $3,300,000, and swelling the total yield to the verge of $7,000,000— 
truly a magnificent showing. This district will continue to yield for many 
years to come from $300,000 to $100,000 in gold annually, and thousands of 
acres are as yet virgin ground, which may at any time swell the annual yield 
by two or three hundred thousand additional. 

Quartz mining has not been carried on very extensively, but a number of 
fine veins carrying free gold have been discovered, and some development 
made, with flattering prospects for the future. This portion of our county has 
as yet received no attention from prospectors for quartz. It is a well-estab- 
lished fact that all placer gold is the result of washings of the gold from quartz 
veins, the gold in the course of ages having become separated from the vein 
and been deposited in the gravel. In a district like this, where every shovel- 
ful of gravel shows the presence of some "colors" when washed, it is but 
reasonable to infer that veins of quartz exist in the adjacent hills which only 
await the patient searcher, and no doubt will richly reward the lucky finder 
for all the time and money expended in the search. Leesburg mining dis- 
trict is connected with Salmon City by a fairly passable wagon-road. 

Adjacent to Leesburg district, and the next oldest in point of discovery, 
is the Daly Creek mining district, discovered in 1866-7, which comprises all 
the country drained by Daly Creek and its tributaries. The first discovery 
was made in Sierra Gulch, in which the Discovery Company worked fifty-four 
men, paid out $2, 100 each week in wages, and every member of which left for 
the States (the Mecca of all successful miners) in four months with a for- 
tune. This gulch paid $100 a day to the man. This district produced $250,- 
000 the first year, $300,000 the second year, and has ever since 1868, up to 
the present year, yielded $25,000 in gold-dust, which has been added to the 
circulating medium of the world, making all told to date nearly $1,000,000. 
The character and quality of the gold is identical with that of Moose Creek 
District, being well washed and about .900 fine, worth, according to mint as- 
say, about $18.25 per ounce. Deposit of gravel is about ten feet thick. 
Claims are developed and worked through a bed-rock flume, about 1,600 feet 
in length. Unlimited facilities for disposing of the mining debris are at hand. 
The season lasts from five to six months. There is still a large area of ground 
unclaimed and unworked in this district which would pay very handsome 
profits for working. No quartz has been prospected for, although the indica- 
tions are very favorable for finding good veins carrying free gold. This dis- 
trict is surrounded by low hills covered by young pines of sufficient size for 
all present and future needs. 

In Moose Creek mining district is situated the famous Moose Creek hy- 
draulic mine, situated on Moose Creek Flat, several miles in length by a half 
mile in width, with a deposit of gravel underlying its entire length and 
breadth, of a thickness of twelve feet at the lower end, which gradually in- 
creases to twenty-three feet as the upper end of the claim is reached. The 
claim was first located by individual miners in 1868, who tried to develop 
their claims independent of each other, but failed to make a success. The 
property finally came into the hands of the present owner, who for a number 
of years worked the ground in the old way, without the use of improved ma- 
chinery. Becoming convinced that improved machinery would largely en- 
hance the productive capacity of the ground, the profits of several years were 
expended in a more intelligent and satisfactory development of the ground. 
A bed-rock flume was commenced and extended along the claim a distance of 
2,300 feet to the present workings. This flume is sixteen feet below the bed- 
rock, five feet wide and seven feet high, and through it all the washings, 
debris, and sands are sent to the Salmon River, six miles below, on a grade of 
500 feet to the mile. It is estimated that the water rushes through this flume 
8 



106 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

at the rate of a mile a minute, carrying with it in its irresistible force large 
rocks too heavy for the strongest man to handle. A large reservoir, of a 
capacity for storing about ten or twelve million cubic feet of water, has 
been constructed at great expense. A high flume, 1,275 feet in length, was 
constructed to secure additional water facilities. Twenty-five tons of iron 
pipe and two No. 5 giants were purchased, and the entire claim was put in 
lirst-class condition for work on the most approved plan, at a total cost of 
over $100,000, all of which was money taken out of the claim. The gold 
taken out of the claim was of unusual fineness and value, being none under 
.900 fine, and worth from $18.75 to $19.25 per ounce. About thirty-five acres 
have been worked since the first opening of the claim, yielding $400,000. Of 
this amount $350,000 have been taken out since the new improved machinery 
has been put in. 

In the same district, and about two miles south-east from this claim, is 
the Shoo-fly quartz-mining claim, discovered in 1873. This mine is from ten 
to twelve feet in width between walls, and the ore extracted from wall to wall 
has yielded on an average $40 to the ton. No ore has ever been sorted, but 
the whole was dumped on the mill floor without sorting. Work has been 
prosecuted on this vein in a desultory way — working one season and abandon- 
ing work for two or three seasons, all except assessment work. The retort ob- 
tained from the mill runs shows the extraordinary value of $19 per ounce, which 
is the highest value ever obtained from quartz gold. A five-stamp mill is part 
of the improvements on this property, which has yielded $30,000. 

A number of other quartz claims have been located in this district, but 
owing to the lack of capital have not been developed to a great extent. The 
hills here, as well as in all the other districts before mentioned, are covered 
bv a heavy growth of pine timber of the best quality for mining timbers, etc. 
This district is about seventeen miles from Salmon City, and connected with 
it by wagon- road and trail. 

North Fork or Dahlonega Mining District is situated about 40 miles 
north-west of Salmon City, on the north fork of Salmon Elver and Dahlonega 
and Anderson creeks, and was first discovered during the early days of the 
placer excitement in 1S67. At that time some rich gold-bearing gravel was 
found, but not proving profitable to work, was abandoned until 1879, when 
the first discoveries of quartz were made and numerous claims were located. 
The mines of this district are true fissure veins from three to nine feet wide, 
carrying free gold and gold-bearing pyrites. The ore yields from $20 to $1S0 
per ton, and is not refractory, being easily reduced for the free gold in the 
stamp-mill, and the pyrites after being concentrated readily give up the gold 
contained in them by roasting and chlorination. An extensive area of placer 
mining ground has been located on Dahlonega and Anderson creeks in this 
district, which has paid well and is improving in yield every year, the gold 
being of a heavy, coarse character ; some nuggets have been found worth $20 
to $30. Of the many quartz lodes the Huron, Oneida, Rose, Keystone, Sucker, 
Eureka, Golden Circle, Twin Brothers, Bill Edwards, McCarthy, Monster, 
Mammoth, Montgomery, St. Joe, and Sucker Extension have been more or 
less developed, and have paid from the surface down. Many other promising 
locations have been made which will in time prove to be valuable mines. 

A ten-stamp quartz mill chlorination wor^s of a capacity for ten tons per 
day, and six arrastras, furnish the reduction machinery for the ores, and a 
saw-mill produces the finest qualities of lumber from the almost inexhaustible 
pineries of this region. The Golden Circle Mining Company employs about 
50 men steadily, and will in the near future double its pay-roll. Dahlonega 
Creek and the north fork of Salmon River furnish the water-power necessary 
for all the machinery needed for concentration and reduction of ores. Dis- 
coveries of new mines and rich strikes in the old ones are placing this district 
in the front ranks of gold-mining districts of this county. The past pro- 
duction of placer and quartz gold of this district is about $75,000, and from 
present indications will be $150,000 this coming year. 

Mineral Hill District is situated about 45 miles north-west of Salmon 
City, and although the latest discovered bids fair to rank witli any of the 
districts in Idaho in point of richness of ores and facilities for large production. 
This is also a gold camp. The veins are bold, well defined, and strong, 
varying frcm four to thirty feet in width from wall to wall. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 107 

The Kentuck is a well-defined vein, which has been traced by its outcrop 
for more than 4,500 feet. The present developments have uncovered in all the 
workings a body of high-grade gold ore, averaging over seven feet of solid pay 
dirt, and quartz assaying from $175 to $1,500 per ton. Developments, 350 feet 
of tunnels, shafts, ore-houses, boarding and bunk houses. The machinery for a 
complete ten-stamp mill has been shipped for reducing the ores of this mine. On 
the same vein, commencing at the edge of Salmon River and cropping out a 
distance of over 500 feet, is the Grunter mine. Considerable work has 
been done on this claim, and a large quantity of ore has been extracted. 
The ore is of the same character as the Kentuck, and the vein is as well 
defined and strong wherever opened as in the Kentuck. A cross-cut has 
been run on the vein which had cut one wall and had advanced 30 feet 
all in ore, and no other wall in sight. Assays show a value of from $50 to 
$1,200 per ton. A ten-stamp mill of approved pattern has been in operation 
60 days, and has thus far produced bullion enough to pay for cost of mill and 
all running expenses, and a handsome surplus over for future developments 
and improvements. Bowlder Creek furnishes ample water-power for this mill, 
and will likewise be utilized as power for the new mill to be erected for the 
Kentuck. Many other claims have been located in this district which bid 
fair to develop rich and paying mines. This whole region is well timbered 
for the needs of many years of mining, and is procured at a very slight cost. 

Yellow Jacket District is situated about sixty miles west from Salmon 
City, and was first prospected for placers in 18G9. The principal mines in 
this district, however, are quartz, free-gold ores, easily reduced by the ordinary 
stamp-mill process. 

The North and South American claims are the most important and best 
developed. These ledges run parallel, showing croppings 30 to 40 feet in 
width, and have been traced a distance of two miles. Developments consist 
of tunnels, shafts, and drifts many hundred feet in length, exposing large 
bodies of free-gold ore running from $10 to $45 per ton. 

The North American extension contains a very large body of ore assaying 
from $15 to $25 per ton. The country rock is porphyry ; the hills low and 
timbered with pine. Grass and water abound. A ten-stamp mill has been in 
operation nearly two years, and has produced a large amount of bullion. Ex- 
perienced miners assert that there is ore enough above ground on the various 
claims in the district to keep a fifty-stamp mill running for many years. 

It is reported that large bodies of silver-lead ore are to be found about 20 
miles to the north from this section, but on account of the isolation and dis- 
tance from supplies, these mines have received no attention from capitalists. 

About ten miles from Yellow Jacket is Prairie Basin, in which a number 
of promising mines have been discovered, among which the Watch-tower, 
Monument, True Blue, and Bobtail are the principal ones. The Watch-tower 
is a ten-foot vein carrying both gold and silver, and crops out a distance of 
1,200 feet. The Monument crops out 30 feet above ground, showing a strong 
vein of mineral about 12 feet wide, assaying from $10 to $500. The True 
Blue is an extension of the Monument, from which two tons of ore were 
shipped to Winnemucca, Nevada, and gave a yield of $24S per ton. This section 
has been but very little prospected, and would be an inviting field to the en- 
terprising prospector. 

Lemhi District is situated about eight-five miles east of Salmon City, 
and contains within its limits the famous Viola mine. This is a vast vein of 
carbonate and galena ore, some sixty feet in width, carrying from forty to 
seventy per cent lead and from thirty to seventy ounces of silver to the ton. 
Thousands of tons of this ore are annually extracted and shipped from the 
mine to Kansas City, Omaha, and Denver; but regardless, of the amount of ore 
extracted, every blow of the pick reveals greater riches. All the workings 
are in ore, and it is estimated that ever 60,000 tons are now in sight, and the 
end is not yet. This mine has produced nearly half a million dollars for its 
fortunate owners in a little less than two years. Many other valuable mines 
are being developed, in the hope that capital may be attracted, and that re- 
duction works will be built, and in that event this district would alone add 
$500,000 annually to the metal product of Lemhi County. Nicholia is a little 
town which has been started by the mining company, contains a post-office, 



108 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

hotel, stage-barn, and a number of dwelling-houses occupied by the miners 
and their families. Population about 100. 

Spring Mountain District is reached by a good wagon-road from Salmon 
City, and distant from that place about seventy-five miles in an easterly direc- 
tion. The mines of this district are heavy carbonate and galena ores, ranging 
from 30 to 60 per cent lead and from 45 to 120 ounces in silver. Over 100 
claims have been recorded, many of which have been developed and have 
plenty of ore on the dump ready for the smelter. 

The Spring Mountain Mining Company has expended large sums in the 
development of numerous claims, has built a 30-ton water-jacket smelter, 
ore-houses, offices, and boarding-houses. A first-class saw-mill produces all 
the lumber required, and is also owned by the company. All the material for 
fluxing the ores of this district are at hand, limestone, iron ore, and quartz 
being abundant. A test run of ore has been made, has given satisfactory re- 
turns, and in a short time this promising district will be on a sound producing 
basis. Spring Mountain is the post-office, with a population of about 100. 

Texas District, distant from Salmon City about sixty-five miles, is in 
many respects similar to the Spring Mountain district — carbonate and ga- 
lena ores, varying from 40 to 60 per cent lead, and running from 40 to 500 
ounces in silver. The veins are strong, well defined, and carry large 
bodies of ore, which is easily extracted, and can be taken from most of 
the mine-dumps in wagons. Iron and limestone abound and can be procured 
for fluxing with but little expense. A twenty-ton smelter and concentrator 
are in course of erection, and will be completed this season. A fine body of 
excellent timber is convenient, and a saw-mill is cheaply converting it into 
lumber of good quality. 

Blue Wing or Pahsamari District is situated about sixty miles south- 
east of Salmon City, overlooking and close to Pahsamari Valley. Being favor- 
ably located in a sheltered section of country, with timber and water in abun- 
dance all around, a mild climate free from storms and snows, its many prom- 
ising mines can be worked summer and winter. Forty to fifty claims have 
been located, and nearly all are more or less developed by tunnels and shafts, 
showing large bodies of good milling ore of fair grade and comparatively free 
of base metals. The general character of ores is silver chlorides, running 
from 50 to 240 ounces in silver to the ton. Thousands of tons of ore are above 
the surface in the croppings, ready to be blasted or picked down for reduc- 
tion, the conditions being extremely favorable for cheap extraction and reduc- 
tion. Like many other districts, this awaits but the magic hand of capital to 
pour out a continuous stream of precious metals for many years to come, giving 
profitable employment to many hundreds of miners and laborers, and return- 
ing handsome dividends to the fortunate investors. 

The Lemhi Indian Reservation, extending from the summit of the main 
range of the Rockies to the summit of the Salmon River range, and being 
about 100 square miles in area, besides taking in a very large part of the finest 
farming and grazing lands in Lemhi Valley, is known to contain as rich mines 
of gold, silver, copper, lead, and iron as have been discovered anywhere in the 
county; but being an Indian reservation, the prospector, miner, and farmer 
are alike excluded therefrom. The mineral lands contained within the reser- 
vation should be thrown open for exploration and purchase, as they cannot be 
a benefit to the Indians. If this were done another mining district would be 
opened up which would equal if not surpass any of the now famous mining 
districts of Idaho. 

Salmon City District. — Within a radius of seventeen miles of Salmon 
City, and connected with it by good wagon-roads, are situated many good 
mines of gold quartz, which will, by reason of the large bodies of ore in sight 
and above ground, attract the attention of capitalists. These mines are favorably 
situated for development, and their ores can be cheaply extracted and milled 
with large profit. Some of the principal of these claims are the Silver Star, 
Freeman, California, Washoe, Ranger, and El Dorado. 

The Silver Star is about fifteen miles north of Salmon City, on Morse 
Creek, showing as large an outcrop as any mine in Lemhi County. The ore is 
contained in three large chimneys, and about 12,000 tons are estimated to be 
above ground ready to be mined. A large amount of ore has been blasted down, 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 109 

and is ready for the mill ; very little work has been done below the surface. 
The ore is a lively, light gray quartz, and carries from $20 to $30 in gold to the 
ton, and can be mined and milled for $7 per ton. A sufficient quantity of 
water to run a twenty-stamp steam mill is within 100 feet of the mine. 
Timber is abundant and easy to obtain. A good wagon-road connects the mine 
with Salmon City. The mine is patented, and an absolute title can be given. 

The Ranger mine is eighteen miles east of Salmon City, is developed, and 
opened up by shafts, tunnels, and drifts, to the depth of 200 feet ; is a strong 
eighteen-inch vein, and mill runs show $20 to the ton. 

The El Dorado, within sight of the Ranger, is a six-foot vein, and mills 
$10 to the ton, with an unlimited body of ore exposed in all the works. A wire 
tramway and a first-class twenty-stamp mill have been put up for working 
the ores of these mines. A wagon-road connects both mines with Salmon 
City. 

The Freeman mine is eighteen miles north of Salmon City, is opened by 
tunnels and a shaft about seventy feet in depth, showing a vein varying from 
twelve inches to three feet in width. The ore is free-milling gold quartz, 
working $20 to the ton, with a large amount on the dumps and exposed in the 
workings. Fine water-power for all necessary machinery is within half a mile 
of the mine. 

The California is one mile west of the Freeman, and opened by two tun- 
nels run in on the vein, showing ore all the way. The lowest tunnel is in 
eighty feet; average width of vein is eighteen inches, of good, free-milling gold 
ore, averaging $21 per ton. Timber is abundant all around these mines. 

The Washoe is a strong vein of free- milling gold quartz, about three feet 
wide, from which assays have been obtained running $40 to the ton. Work 
has been done on the claim during a number of years. 

Many other fine prospects have been found in the surrounding hills, and 
could be developed into good paying mines, but the poverty of the owners and 
lack of facility for reduction have prevented and retarded their development. 

Salmon City, the county seat, is located at the confluence of the Lemhi with 
the Salmon River, and was located and laid out in 1867. It is the distributing 
point and base of supplies for all this section of north-eastern Idaho, has a 
population of 500, and is a thrifty, well-built town, containing hotels, stores, 
warehouses, and many dwelling-houses. A brick church has recently been 
completed at a cost of $3,500. A large, commodious school-house, costing 
$4,000, and affording ample educational facilities for present and future needs, 
has also been placed at the disposal of the people. The various secret and 
benevolent societies are in a flourishing condition, owning the buildings in 
which they meet. A fine bridge spans Salmon River at this place. The people 
are, as a general rule, industrious, thrifty, intelligent, and enterprising. A 
daily mail and stage line affords excellent facilities for communication with the 
railroad, 110 miles distant. Both Salmon and Lemhi rivers afford as good 
if not better water-power than can be found anywhere in the United States, 
and this place is a desirable point for investment of capital in manufactures. 
Salmon City, situated as it is in the center of a rich agricultural, stock-raising, 
and mining country, surrounded by some of the grandest scenery in the world, 
with a delightful climate, free from excessive heat in summer and extreme cold 
and storms in winter, is one of the most desirable places for residence in all the 
intermountain county. 

Junction is fifty miles distant from the county seat, in the midst of a fine 
dairy and stock-raising community, not far distant from the now famous Viola, 
Spring Mountain, and Texas mining districts ; its population is about 200 ; alti- 
tude 6,329 feet above sea-level. The town is favorably located on the Lemhi 
River, is well built, containing a fine hotel, stores, and dwelling-houses. This 
point is favorably located for dairying and stock-raising, manj'- thousands of 
acres being as yet unoccupied and awaiting the advent of the industrious 
home-seeker. 

Gibbons ville is situated on the north fork of Salmon River, about forty 
miles north of Salmon Ciby, and is supported by the mines of that section, in 
the center of which it is located. Population about 100. 

The present population of Lemhi County approximates 1,800. The total 
production of gold and silver from the placer and quartz mines of Lemhi 



110 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

County since 1867 to date is over $8,700,000, an annual yield of over $500,000. 
The present year's production will not fall far short of $600,000, and can by 
the introduction of capital and proper reduction machinery be swelled to 
$1,500,000 in a very short time. With the Utah and Northern Railway within 
100 miles of the Salmon River, a magnificent mining, farming, stock-raising, and 
dairy country on every hand, Lemhi County offers to the capitalists, manu- 
facturers, miners, prospectors, settlers, and mechanics a field for profitable 
investment and labor second to no section in the United States. Its immense 
natural resources and natural advantages will at no distant day bring it to 
the front rank of any section of this young and growing Territory, the future 
State of Idaho. 



NEZ PERCE COUNTY— NORTH IDAHO. 

Nez Perce" County was originally organized under an act of the legislature 
of Washington Territory, and embraced the followiug boundaries: Beginning 
at the mouth of the Clearwater River, thence up the same to the south fork 
of the Clearwater; thence with the south fork to the Lo Lo Creek; thence 
with a southern boundary of Shoshone County to the summit of the Bitter 
Root Mountains; thence south to the main divide to the waters of the Salmon . 
River, and the south fork of Clearwater to the Snake River; thence with the 
Snake River to the mouth of the Clearwater, the place of beginning. 
This organization took place in 1861, one year and four months before 
the organization of Idaho Territory, and remained with these boundaries till 
the meeting of the first legislature of Idaho in 1863-4, when the southern 
boundary was changed so as to extend to Pittsburg Landing. At the meeting 
of the second legislature, 1834-5, two new counties, Lahtoh and Kootenai, 
were created, embracing the country north of the Clearwater, extending to 
the British line, and attached to Nez Perce* for judicial purposes. At a subse- 
quent legislature Lahtoh was abolished, and that portion south of the Hang- 
man Creek Mountain made to form a part of Nez Perce" County. At another 
subsequent legislature, that portion of Nez Perce" lying south and east of a line 
drawn from the mouth of Moloney Creek on Salmon River to the mouth of the 
middle fork of Clearwater was attached to Idaho County. Nez Perce" now ex- 
tends from the Hangman Creek Mountain on the north to the Salmon River on 
the south, and from the Snake River and the one hundred and seventeenth me- 
ridian on the west for the boundaries of Shoshone, and Idaho on the east. Within 
these boundaries there are nearly nine hundred square miles of Indian reserva- 
tion, embracing a large portion of the best lands in north Idaho. The present 
population of the county is not far from 9,000. The chief pursuits of the inhab- 
itants are grain-raising and stock-raising. The eastern portion contains about 
one third of the area of the county — timbered lands — the remainder of the county 
consists of prairie lands and canons of the streams. The prominent streams are 
the Clearwater, Potlatch Creek, a tributary thereto, Lapwai Creek, also a tribu- 
tary, and the north and south Palouse rivers, tributary to the Snake River iu 
Washington Territory. The general course of these risers is from east to west, 
and they flow from the timbered lands on the east. The Clearwater is naviga- 
ble for steamboats of light draft from the eastern boundaries of the county 
to the western. The Palouse River is only navigable for timber and lumber 
for about two months in each year. There is considerable use made of these 
rivers for lumbering purposes. With an expenditure of $50,000 the Clearwater 
can be made navigable at all seasons of the year, except when obstructed by 
ice for two or three months in the winter. The climate of the country is gener- 
ally very mild; snow seldom falls in any part of the county more than one or two 
feet in any year, and except in the higher altitudes remains on the ground not 
more than two months. Sufficient rain falls to furnish all necessary moisture 
for the crops. We never have had since the organization of the county a 
failure of crops by reason of drought, although some years the yield in the 
crops has been greater than others, in consequence of more moisture. All 
kinds of hardy fruits are grown in the county, while on the lowlands, along 
the Clearwater, the finest of peaches and grapes are grown in abundance. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. Ill 

The average product of the wheat crop for the present year has been over 
thirty bushels per acre ; the barley crop, about sixty ; the oat crop, seventy; 
the flax crop, twenty-two. Instances of sixty bushels per acre have been 
raised in wheat, and eighty in barley, and one hundred and ten in oats, and 
thirty-two bushels in flax. Vegetables of all kinds have a very prolific 
growth. In some instances potatoes have been produced whose weight has 
been six and seven pounds each. Squashes have been raised the present season 
whose weight was from one hundred and thirty-five to one hundred and fifty 
pounds each. In the north-eastern portion of the county there are placer 
gold mines whicli have been worked for several years to profit, and recently 
there are other gold mines discovered farther east which now contain about 
two hundred population, where reliable reports give a yield of about $5 per 
day per man. There are organized in the county one independent school dis- 
trict, embracing the city of Lewiston and a small area of country adjacent, 
and other districts in the county. In this independent district, schools are 
taught nine months each year, in the other districts three months at least, 
and in some of them four and five months each year. In this independent 
district there are two school-houses : the one of the city of Lewiston proper 
built and furnished at a cost of about $13,000 ; in the other and outside of the 
city, at a cost of about $1,000. This district is under the management of 
five supervisors, one superintendent, and five teachers, aggregating a monthly 
salary of $355. In this district there are two hundred and eighty-two scholars, 
according to the last census, between the ages of live and twenty-one years, 
with about two hundred in regular attendance upon the public school, besides 
a collegiate institute, embracing about thirty scholars, under the control of the 
Methodist society; a Catholic sisters' school, just organized, embracing twenty 
pupils ; a parochial Episcopal school, embracing ten scholars in regular attend- 
ance. The county contains, besides the city of Lewiston, five towns where there 
are trading posts, namely : Moscow, Viola, Chambers, Genesee, and Julietta. 
The most important of these is Moscow, containing a population of about 
eight hundred, with ten or twelve trading houses. Lewiston has about thirty 
trading houses ; it has two good hotels, with several restaurants, and numer- 
ous saloons ; it has a court-house and jail ; it has five churches, where worship 
is maintained nearly every sabbath ; it has numerous mechanical workshops 
for the different trades, and a resident population of about 1,800. The city is 
situated at the junction of the Snake and Clearwater rivers ; steamboats on the 
Snake River reach this point twice per week, from the terminus of the Oregon 
Railroad and Navigation railroad at Riparia, a distance of seventy miles below 
Lewiston. The climate of Lewiston is milder than in any portion of the 
North-west. The thermometer in winter seldom goes below zero, but aver- 
ages from twenty-six to fifty-four above zero. The heat in summer occasion- 
ally re.iches to one hundred degrees above zero. It is considered one of the 
healthiest towns in the North-west, contagious diseases seldom obtaining any 
foothold in the town ; although more than five hundred miles from the sea, 
the altitude of the place is less than eight hundred feet above the level of the 
sea. The other towns in the county, excepting Julietta, have an altitude of 
considerably over two thousand feet above the level of the sea, and the great 
bulk of the agricultural lands are situated over two thousand feet above the 
level of the sea ; nevertheless, all the cereals, and vegetables, and fruits except 
the peach, are grown there with ease, and in great profusion. /Lewiston was 
first settled in 1861 ; the town was located that year in consequence of the 
discovery of important gold mines, lying east of the Nez Perce" County in 
Shoshone and Idaho counties, and for many years it was the trading empo- 
rium for all these mines. 

Some fifteen hundred or two thousand pack-animals were, during every 
season except the winter, constantly employed in conveying goods and sup- 
plies to the mines east. As these mines began to. diminish in their yield, so 
did the demand for transportation gradually diminish, and the people of 
Lewiston either deserted the place or changed their occupation to trade with the 
agricultural portion of the population, which gradually assumed large pro- 
portions in the surrounding country as the value and product of the lands 
became known. It is now a prominent shipping point for agricultural prod 
ucts which are sent to the Pacific as transportation facilities are furnished 



a- 

9 



112 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

The population of the place is no greater than it was in 1861-2, but then it 
was merely transient ; now it is permanent. At first the people mostly lived 
and did business in tents and small shanties ; now they have many fine 
residences and shops and stores, which give the town an appearance of pros- 
perity and happiness. Three daily, two tri-weekly mails, and one weekly 
mail, arrive at Lewiston. 

Moscow, the second town in size, has a growth of only about six years. 
It is situated 27 miles north of Lewiston, in the midst of a fine agricultural 
country, and has a very prosperous trade with the farmers. There are five 
flouring-mills in the county : two at Lewiston, one at Moscow, one at Julietta, 
and one at Viola. The mills at Lewiston and at Moscow manufacture flour 
for a foreign market, besides manufacturing for home consumption. The as- 
sessable property of the county for the present year is $2,050,546, upon which 
there is levied a tax of seventeen mills on the dollar on that portion which is 
outside of the city of Lewiston, and eleven mills on that which is inside ; 
that which is inside has an addition of six mills on the dollar as a city tax, 
and that which is in Lewiston independent school district has an additional 
tax of ten mills upon the dollar for school purposes. This seventeen-mill 
tax includes both county and territorial purposes, also the eleven-mill 
tax includes county and territorial purposes. Give this county cheap 
means of transportation of its surplus products to Portland, and no county in 
the territory has greater elements of prosperity than Nez Perce County. 



ONEIDA COUNTY. 

Oneida County, which disputes with Alturas the claim to possessing the 
largest area of any of Idaho's counties, is situated in the south-eastern portion 
of the territory. For over two hundred miles within its boundaries the Utah 
and Northern Railroad runs in a northerly direction. The Oregon Short Line 
crosses it from east to west. It is chiefly as an agricultural region that 
Oneida lays its claim to pre-eminence. In the neighborhood of Oxford and 
Malad Valley all the most important kinds of cereals and garden vegetables 
are raised. Wheat, oats, potatoes, cabbages, turnips, pease, and small fruits 
are successfully cultivated. The county itself is larger than some Eastern 
States, and throughout her borders may be found opportunities for almost any 
kind of an investment. It is at present attracting especial attention as a 
stock countiy. The stock ranges along Snake River cannot be surpassed. 
There are at the present writing probably not over 50, 000 head of stock in the 
county, though the ranges are capable of sustaining many times that amount 
for years to come. 

Malad City is the county seat, has a population of 1,000, and is the 
supply point for an extensive farming country. Franklin, near the head of 
Cache Valley, is the southernmost town in Idaho, dating its origin as far 
back as 1860. Oxford is the headquarters of the United States land-office 
for the district. 

At the point where the Oregon Short Line and the Utah and Northern 
railways unite at Port Neuf is a place long noted in the West because of the 
associations and incidents connected with the stage lines of the past. Port 
Neuf Valley was, in the days of staging between Salt Lake and Montana, an 
oasis in the desert country at which travelers were glad to stop. The Hark- 
ness ranch was known to all travelers. The location is a most excellent one, 
because of the rich bottom-lands, and the fine stream of pure water. Port 
Neuf River heads off to the north-east, and has many pretty falls. These falls 
are formed by dams across the stream, the dams being simply a deposit of 
matter held in solution, which has built up very thin walls almost as firm as 
iron. The whole valley for forty or fifty miles abounds with this class of 
formation, skirted by fields of land. Mr. II. 0. Harknesa has a ranch extend- 
ing along the river, where the soil is the best and easiest cultivated and irri- 
gated. He has 400 acres of meadow-land, yielding large crops, and he culti- 
vated the past year 100 acre3 in cereals, producing 4,000 bushels of small 
grain and 1,000 bushels of potatoes. His hay crop was over 300 tons, while 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 113 

most of his meadow -lands were pastured. He has ahout 7,500 cattle, 500 
calves, and a large herd of horses and mules. Being a great admirer of fine 
stock, he has entered largely into the breeding of such, and has met with 
grand success. During the summer his ranch gives employment to about 
twenty men, and half that number during winter. His ranch and stock busi- 
ness is a sample of what Idaho farming can produce when managed properly. 

The Harkness House, located near the McCammon depot, is a fine struc- 
ture, lately completed. It is a two-story house, 30 by 132 feet, in which are 
twenty-four rooms for guests, and eleven other rooms, such as dining and cook 
rooms, office, parlors, etc., all of which are nicely furnished. A porch extends the 
full length of the front. A wing 22 by 32 feet is used as a store and post-office. 
A good stock of general merchandise is kept for sale, and exchanged for live- 
stock, produce, etc. A boarding and sale stable forms a prominent feature. This 
is 32 by 70 feet, two stories high, the first being used for stabling horses, while 
the upper floor has a capacity for the storage of thirty-five tons of hay on one 
side and 6,000 bushels of grain on the other, with a wagon-way between. 
Loaded wagons are hauled up to the upper floor by means of a railway oper- 
ated by pulleys and horse-power. The river runs close to the hotel, and just 
below it are two very pretty falls, formed by a division of the water by an 
island. These falls are about sixteen feet high. 

With such excellent hotel accommodations, pleasant suiroundings, nice 
drives, etc., this is a delightful place to visit in the summer, and two railroads 
passing through make the place easily accessible. 

Soda Springs. — To the people of Utah and Idaho Soda Springs has 
been long and favorably known, but because of the lack of transportation fa- 
cilities, and until the completion of the Oregon Short Line Railway, it has 
only within a year or two been brought into prominence beyond the limit 
named. The town is situated on the Oregon Short Line Railway, 146 miles 
west of Granger, the junction of the main line of the Union Pacific, and 68 
miles east of Pocotello, the junction of the Utah and Northern Railway with 
the first-named road. 

It takes its name from the many fine mineral springs in its immediate 
vicinity, among them the famous Hooper and Ninety Per Cent, and be- 
cause of the already ascertained medicinal properties of their waters, in con- 
nection with magnificent climate and scenery, good hunting and trout-fishing 
in forest and stream near by, will in the near future make Soda the most 
noted health and pleasure resort in the west, if not in the whole country. As 
to the comparative merits of the waters with those of other famous springs, 
we take the liberty of publishing an extract from a private letter recently re- 
ceived from a prominent physician. He says : "I was born and raised not far 
from Saratoga, have seen White Sulphur and most of the best springs in this 
country at least, and I must say that those at Soda Springs beat them all away 
out of sight." 

The principal chemical ingredients of the waters are iron, sulphur, and 
magnesia, but all known and designated by old settlers by the name of Soda 
Springs. 

The waters of many of the springs are sparkling, effervescent, and exceed- 
ingly pleasant to the taste, and the famous Hooper beautiful to look upon. 
This spring is located one and a half miles north of the Oregon Short Line 
depot, and about twenty feet from Soda Creek. From this spring about 600 
inches of the most wholesome and pleasant-tasting soda-water flows alltheyear 
round. This water is about sixty per cent soda, and about four feet east of it 
is an ammonia spring, which boils up almost to the surface of the ground, and 
from which ammonia gases escape, which inhaled at the surface prove a sure 
cure for catarrh and headache. In this same group, and within a radius of 
twenty feet, are to be found a warm and cold mud spring, and a clear, pure, 
cold-w r ater spring in addition to the two described above, the first-named being 
the only one which overflows its banks. They are now owned by the Oregon 
Short Line Railway Company and E. T. Williams. 

Two miles north-east from the Hooper is located the Formation Spring, so 
named because of the wonderfully fantastic formation of the bed of its over- 
flow, which b,y continually damming itself and changing its course, has exposed 
to the view of the pleasure-seeker about twenty acres of petrified brush, leaves, 



114 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

grass, moss, weeds, etc., and innumerable caves and grottoes cf unknown depth 
and extent. The water of this spring is strongly impregnated with lime. 

The spring which next attracts the attention of the visitor is the Ninety 
Per Cent, located one and a half miles north-west of town, and is owned by 
David Wright. This spring, as its name denotes, is ninety per cent soda, a 
trifle too strong to imbibe in its natural state, but with the additions of a little 
sugar and lemon or other flavoring, makes a most delicious beverage. 

Taking a south-westerly course from the Ninety Per Cent one mile, 
the Gas Fountain is reached. This consists of a large jet of gas escaping 
from a crevice in the rocks with a noise similar to steam escaping from a 
cylinder. 

In the town of Soda Springs there are two more warm springs, both lo- 
cated on the summit of mounds nearly 100 feet high, which have been formed 
by the sediment of their own overflow. Both of these springs furnish excel- 
lent facilities for bathing. 

But the spring most noted for its curative qualities, though probably not 
so pleasant to the taste, is owned by E. T. Williams, and is situated in the 
lot on which is his large hotel. But to show how completely surrounded we 
are by the beauties of nature, 1 must not omit mentioning that wonder of won- 
ders — Swan Lake; for here has Nature outdone herself in her display of the 
picturesque and sublime. This lake is over 1,000 feet above the valley of Bear 
River, and located eight miles south-east of Soda. It is about 200 yards in 
diameter, is nearly round, and of unknown depth. Its rim is of lime forma- 
tion and shaped like an inverted basin; the water so clear that the bottom can 
be seen where it is known to be forty feet deep. The bottom, when it can be 
seen, is covered with petrified logs, brush, etc., and affords a very pleasing 
sight. The property is owned by William M. White. 

The climate, especially during the summer and fall months, is very salu- 
brious, the altitude being 5,833 feet above the level of the sea, and the scenery 
magnificent beyond description. It is in the midst of this wonderful wonder- 
land % 

The town contains a population of about 500. All branches of business 
are represented, including four stores carrying general merchandise, three 
hotels, and the immediate construction of a fourth of commodious proportions 
is in contemplation. An extensive saw and planing mill is now in operation, 
turning out daily large quantities of lumber. 

The railway company have in course of construction round-houses and ma- 
chine-shops, intending as soon as completed to make Soda the end of a di- 
vision. 

There is one newspaper published in the town — the Idaho Herald — a new 
enterprise, having issued its first publication on the 12th day of April, 1884. 

Within an area of twenty-five miles exist many natural curiosities, im- 
mense parks of soda formations, extinct volcanoes, huge piles of lava-rock, 
with great yawning chasms extending into the earth to an unknown depth, 
large caves and caverns with stalactites, some of them immense, pendent from 
their roofs and sides, formed by the passing of water containing calcareous 
particles through the pores and fissures of the rocks above ; boiling springs, 
lakes away up in the mountain-tops, numerous petrifactions, with Bear River, 
the Port Neuf, Soda Creek, the Blackfoot, and other mountain streams in 
close proximity, affording fine trout-fishing ; abundance of wild game, includ- 
ing several species of grouse, wild duck, and geese in the hills and valleys. 

It is but a few hours' ride by rail to the great Soshone Falls — Idaho's Niag- 
ara, the grounds surrounding which were purchased last summer by a company 
of wealthy Omaha and Montana gentlemen, whose intention it is to make all 
the necessary improvements early in the present season, by the construction of 
a hotel and facilities to enable visitors to obtain perfect views of this grand 
and wonderful work of nature. 

Soda is also on the direct route by rail to the best and only scenic route 
into the National Park, via Utah & Northern and Beaver Canon. 

The hotel accommodations are ample. A number of gentlemen of Salt Lake, 
Omaha, and other cities have already erected cottages for occupancy during 
the summer and fall months. Many others contemplate following their ex- 
ample the coming season. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 115 

In addition to the foregoing, it is not improbable that Soda will before long 
loom up as a mining section. Very recent discoveries have been made ; 
good prospects found within a short distance of copper and galena ores, carry- 
ing both gold and silver, and in one instance exceedingly rich in the precious 
metals. 

Being thus centrally located, with the facilities afforded those who would 
seek pleasure, sight-seeing, and health to reach all the different points of inter- 
est, Soda Spa has already become a desirable location for a summer residence. 

The new town of Pocatello, located at the junction of the Utah & North- 
ern and western division of the Oregon Short Line, promises to become of 
much importance should the land be placed in market. 

Pocatello is on the Ross Fork Indian Reservation, and the road is here 
with its town and station by treaty with the Indians and the sanction of the 
government. The railroad company have forty acres of land, and have made 
extensive improvements. 

The Pocatello House is 40 by 140 feet, and two stories high, with a basement 
33 by 70 feet. On the first floor are located the express, baggage, ticket agent's, 
telegraph, and other railway offices, two large waiting-rooms, hotel office, 
dining-rooms, pantry, kitchen, etc., while above are eighteen rooms for guests^ 
besides some rooms occupied by railway officials. 

The railway buildings here consist of an eight-stall round-house, a large 
oil and store room, a platform 400 feet long, a transfer platform and offices, a 
1,000-ton ice-house, and fifteen houses for employees, which are large, sub- 
stantial two-story frame structures. 

All the transfer business for the two roads is now done here. This busi- 
ness is extensive and employs a large force of check-clerks, transfer-men, etc. 

If the road or some one else owned here land sufficient for making a 
town, and would sell lots at low rates, this place would soon have a boom, but 
the road has not as much land as is needed, and the Indians propose to hold 
on to the land. A large amount of grading has been done in the yards here, 
preparatory to erecting more buildings, putting in side-tracks, etc. 

The location is a pretty one, and the lands can be easily irrigated by taking 
water from the Port Neuf, a fine stream which passes close to the town on its 
way to Snake River. 

The soil of this part of the plain is good, and only needs water to render it 
very productive and excellent farming laud. Ross's Fork is a swift-running 
stream 20 or 30 feet wide, and affords sufficient water to irrigate several thou- 
sand acres of land. 

Blackfoot is the supply point of an extensive stock-raising country. It is 
also the present railroad station for the Salmon River mines, distant 150 miles. 

At Eagle Rock the Snake River comes roaring and rushing over its rocky 
bed through a steep, narrow canon. In the neighborhood are some extensive 
farming lands. Thirteen years ago, while still several hundred miles from the 
nearest railroad, Professor Cyrus Thomas visited this section. In his report 
he speaks of the broad, level bottom-lands at this place as being composed of 
a rich, sandy loam, that needed but the addition of water to render it most 
excellent farming land. This bottom on the east side is some six or eight 
miles wide, and stands at a very moderate height above the ordinary water- 
level of the river. It is flanked on the east by a terrace some fifteen or twenty 
feet above the bottom. The Professor estimates the average volume of water 
the river sends down at this place as three feet deep by 400 feet wide, running 
at the rate of four feet per second, making 4,800 cubic feet per second. This 
amount of water will irrigate nearly a thousand square miles of land suffi- 
ciently for ordinary crops, such as cereals. And as the general level is not far 
above the average water-level, the canals need not be of very great length, and 
therefore the water that returns to the channel can be used again and again, 
thus increasing the area that may be rendered productive by it. 

These conclusions have been fully justified by facts during the past few 
years. Eagle Rock is now one of the most thriving railroad towns in Idaho. 
It is the end of a railroad division, and the railroad shops give employment 
to several hundred men. It is the home of one of the most enterprising 
journals in the Territory, the Idaho Register. An intelligent correspondent 
from there writes : 



116 RESOURCES OE IDAHO. 

" Four hundred car-loads of small grain! That is not much for a country 
as big as this, but it is a beginning. Next year there will be more. More 
than 500 settlers have located ranches this year. All that has been raised is 
wanted for seed, and that will not give us half enough. No flour has been 
made in this country as yet. It is all freighted up from Cache Valley ; from 
there we also get some of our butter, eggs, etc. Two years ago we imported 
everything. One year from now we will have a surplus to furnish the mining 
camps, which are right here in our midst. 

" The valley about Eagle Rock is well watered. The canal company alone 
have made more than sixty miles of water-way. In a distance of about ten 
miles above Eagle Rock the canal has four different outlets into the river. 
This canal covers 50,000 acres of land. Half of this sixty miles of water- 
way has been added the past year. The land is free — open to all at govern- 
ment price — and it is good ; 40 bushels of wheat, 50 to 70 of oats to the acre. 
There is no better country for farming and none better for selling farm 
products. 

' ' The Snake River gravel mines are simply immense. Three men this 
year working together took out over $4,000 each. Next year they will make 
$3,000 to the man. Everything is ready for them to shovel in the dirt next 
spring, as soon as the gravel thaws. Last spring they had everything to 
prepare. It was then an experiment ; it is now a certainty. This year we 
had two claims running ; next year there will probably be 200 ; certainly 
some thousands of men are to find profitable employment in the Snake River 
gravel beds for some generations to come. A New York company are making 
a canal below town ; an Idaho company another. 

" Two large mining companies have been organized, respectively in St. 
Paul and Chicago, to work mining claims some four miles above town. In- 
dividuals and groups of two or three have staked off claims for miles along the 
river-bank. Some have recorded ; many have not. There will be lively skir- 
mishing for possession next spring. 

"For what is up the river in the Teton country we are waiting. Ore 
was brought down in November that assayed $10,000 to the ton. The rock is 
manganese — looks like much of the rock about Butte. Has the source of all 
the Snake River gold been found ? 

"The town of Eagle Rock is improving and the population steadily in- 
creasing." 

Braver Canon Station is noted for being the point from which to reach 
the National Park, 90 miles east. Bassett Brothers have placed a line of 
hacks on the road to the Park, and last season many people went in that way, 
and all unite in saying that it is the best route of any. The route is so easy 
and attractive that the Utah and Northern Company, it is said, will probably 
build a branch road to Marshall Basin soon, and make this, as it should be, the 
great route of travel to Wonderland. 

Mining - . — Apart from the placer mines of Snake River, the mining in- 
terests of Oneida have not been largely developed. The principal mining 
district is Cariboo, distant about 35 miles from Soda Springs, the nearest rail- 
road station, and with which it is connected by wagon-road. 

Robinson, Oneida, and Silver Rook claims are on the east side of the 
mountain. On the west side is the Northern Light, which has been developed 
a considerable distance, and is in a body of ore 12 feet thick, averaging $25 
per ton free gold. . 

The IXL is a vein showing four and a half feet, averaging $30 to the ton, 
free gold. Has two openings, with large body of ore in sight, assaying $12.50 
to the ton. At the west end of Northern Light is the Lone Star, owned by 
Hiram House, with a body of ore twelve feet thick. There are three openings, 
all assaying well in free gold. On the north side is the House; on the east side the 
Grey Eagle and Union; on the west side the Mayflower. Of the surrounding 
mines, the Boston is said to be the richest in the district, with plenty of wood 
and water to work it for years to come. The country in the neighborhood is 
a beautiful valley, with good soil and plenty of grass. The valley is fast 
settling up. 

Considerable excitement has been caused recently by the discovery of good 
float rock on Snake River, above Eagle Rock. This iloat assays about$lS0.S7, 



HESOURCES OF IDAHO. 117 

chiefly gold. The location is on what is known as Fall Creek, which heads 
in the immediate neighborhood of the head of Cariboo Creek. It is claimed that 
this is the same lode, and only about ten miles distant from the Cariboo mines, 
for which §60,000 has just been offered by the Ontario Company. The ledge 
is about twelve feet wide, and crops out in many places. The formation of 
the country is porphyry and granite. 

Oneida Salt-works. — About sixty miles north-east of Soda Springs, in 
a small side valley which opens into Salt Creek, near what is known as the 
Old Lander Emigrant Road, leading from South Pass to Oregon, are the famous 
salt springs of Oneida County. There are several springs. No pumping is 
required, but the water is run through wooden pipes into large galvanized iron 
pans, in which the salt is made by boiling the water. The water is as cold as 
ordinary spring water, and is perfectly clear, showing how completely the 
saline matter is held in solution. The salt is shoveled out once in thirty min- 
utes, and after draining twentj^-five hours is thence thrown into the drying- 
house, there to remain until sacked and ready for shipping. The supply of 
water would warrant 2,500 pounds per day. There is another small spring 
near by, which yields water enough for 2,000 pounds of salt per day for a por- 
tion of the year. The owners began to supply the market in 1866 at five cents 
per pound. 

Following is an analysis of the Oneida salt made by Dr. Piggott of Balti- 
more. It shows a higher percentage of pure salt than the celebrated Onondaga 
brand of Syracuse, while neither Liverpool, Turk's Island, nor Saginaw salt 
approaches it in purity, or is as white, clear, or soluble in liquids. 

Chloride of sodium (pure salt) , . . 97.79 

Sulphate of soda . 1.54 

Chloride of calcium ., .67 

Sulphate of magnesia -.^. Trace 



100.00 



The increasing demand for salt from the smelting works of Idaho and 
Montana makes the Oneida salt-works of inestimable value. 

Game. — The sportsman can find plenty to occupy his attention in Oneida 
County. The tributaries of the Snake all abound in fish, ducks, and geese. 
Wild fowl are abundant in all her creeks and sloughs. According to a tra- 
dition mentioned by Professor Haydn, Market Lake received its name from 
the following circumstances: Formerly at a certain season of the year buffalo, 
deer, antelope, and other species of game were accustomed to congregate here, 
probably on account of saline matter deposited; and the hunters when they 
found game scarce in other sections would remark to each other, "Let us go 
to market." Antelope are still found in some portions of the county. 

Lakes. — Among the attractive features in the shape of natural scenery, 
Henry Lake deserves more than a passing notice. It is situated in the north- 
eastern part of the county, at an altitude of 6,443 feet, and is two miles wide 
by five miles long. Peaks of the Rocky Mountains rise abruptly for 3,000 
feet from close to its shores. Its surface is dotted with islands, and indented 
with graceful tongues of land rich in foliage. It is especially beautiful in 
October, when its rivulets are blooming with the leafage of willow, box-elder, 
sumac, aspen, and other shrubbery, whose gray autumnal tints form a strange 
contrast with the dark green of the deep pine forests. 

Ten miles north-west of Henry is Cliff Lake, which is three miles long by 
half a mile wide, and in whose azure depths 1,400 feet of line has failed to 
reach bottom. It is almost completely surrounded by vertical basaltic cliffs. 
A conical pine-covered island rests upon it3 bosom. "Henry Lake and sur- 
roundings, " says a writer, "are well worthy a two or three days' halt upon 
the part of those who delight in the mountaineering, hunting, fishing, and 
sailing, or desire rest; and were such scenes grouped anywhere except at the 
gate of Wonderland, they would be heralded far and wide as attractions wor- 
thy a jaunt across the continent." 

The first occupation by white men of what is embraced within the present 
limits of Oneida County dates back many years. As early as 1834 old Fort 



118 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

Hall was erected on the south side of Snake River near the mouth of the Port 
Neuf. It was established by Mr. Nathaniel J. Wyeth, who was compelled by 
stress of circumstances two years later to sell it to the Hudson's Bay Company. 
As above narrated, Franklin was established in 1860. The actual devel- 
opment of the county, however, has been within the past seven years. The 
following statement of its assessed valuation during that period will give a 
tolerably accurate idea of its material development: v 

Assessed Property- 
Valuation, tax payers. 

1878 ; .- $62S,201 00 688 

1879 -, 717,943 00 795 

1880 878,722 00 870 

18S1 1,211,452 50 1, ISO 

18S2 1.401,410 00 1,368 

1883 ,.. 2,101,072 00 1,412 

18S4 , 2,380,862 00 1,629 



OWYHEE COUNTY. 

This is one of the historic counties of Idaho. It is situated in the south- 
western portion of the Territory ; is bounded on the north by Ada and Alturas 
counties ; on the east by Cassia County ; on the south by the State of Nevada ; 
and on the west by the State of Oregon. Its area is 8,130 square miles, 
being somewhat larger than the State of Massachusetts. 

Mining. — As related in the chapter on mining, the mines of Owyhee 
were among the earliest to arouse an interest in quartz mining. In this 
region is situated the celebrated Poorman Mine, whose lirst shipment of one 
hundred tons brought a return of $90,000. Fifteen tons shipped to Newark, 
N. J., shortly after yielded $75,000. What was called its second and third 
class ore yielded an average of $230 per ton, in a lot consisting of 2,3S2 tons. 
Its yield produced some of the richest specimens of ruby and native silver 
ever mined. A specimen of this ruby about two feet square and sixty per 
cent pure silver, received a special gold medal at the Paris Exposition. The 
Golden Chariot, Leviathan, South Chariot, Oro Fino, Home Presort, Silver 
Chord, and others in the vicinity received awards at the Philadelphia Cen- 
tennial. In the Owyhee Treasury there is a two-foot vein of free gold ore 
averaging $45 per ton, an eighty-pound lot averaging $6. 30 per pound. A 43- 
pound lot yielded about $50 per pound. The Morning Star has produced 
about $1,000,000, one lot of one hundred tons yielding an average of $1,000 per 
ton. The Elmore, with a twenty-stamp mill, yielded $300,000 in a thirty 
days' run. Other mines, such as the Owyhee, Stormy Hill, and the Webfoot, 
have each a record that will compare favorably with any of those mentioned. 
The county has been one of the most productive in the Territory, but has 
never entirely recovered from the blow it received through the suspension 
of the Bank of California in 1875, which resulted in the withdrawal from the 
field of a number of the large companies. 

The chief districts are the War Eagle and Florida Mountains, near Silver 
City; Wagontown, north-west of the same place; Flint, south-east, and South 
Mountain, thirty miles south, of Silver City. The mines are as rich as they 
ever were, but being expensive to work, considerable capital is required to 
develop them properly and profitably. 

The following is an extract from the latest published report of the mines 
of this section (1883) : 

On War Eagle Mountain, the Poorman mine, which in times past was 
second to no mine in Idaho, was operated part of the year and considerable 
ore extracted, which w r as "worked at the War Eagle Mill. 

The Glenbrook and Clearbrook mines are situated north of the Poorman ; 
have been worked for several years. The ore is easily mined, and mills about 
$30 per ton. 

The Silver Chord is located south of the Poorman, was formerly operated 
by an Eastern company, and subsequently by a San Francisco company, with 
success. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 119 

The Belle Peck mine has been prospected by Sands & Co., with a fair 
chance of finding another ore body. 

The Ruth mine is west of the Belle Peck on the ridge. A tunnel has been 
run on the ledge nearly six hundred feet and some good ore encountered. 

At the Richardson mine, north-east of the Poorman, the ledge is small but 
the ore is exceptionally rich. 

The Rattling Jack mine, on the ledge known as the Columbia and Oro 
Fino, has encountered good ore in a drift on the ledge. Much trouble was 
experienced from a heavy flow of water, and work was abandoned in sinking 
a winze, which had progressed twenty-five feet, until machinery could be 
erected to control the water. 

The War Eagle mine has been opened to a depth of over six hundred feet 
and a long chute of ore exposed. 

The Stormy Hill mine is situated south of the War Eagle mine, and is 
thought to be on the same ledge. A shaft was sunk about two hundred feet 
deep and drifts started both ways. The ledge is of good size and uniform 
richness. About one hundred and thirty tons were extracted, ninety of which 
were milled with an average yield of about $40 to the ton. 

The San Juan mine, east of the War Eagle, was worked under a lease 
and some rich ore taken out. 

The Whisky mine is one of the oldest locations on War Eagle Mountain, 
and the lessees raised some good ore during the season. 

In the Webster mine the vein is small but very rich. Work was steadily 
prosecuted by the owners with success. 

The Crane and Driggs mine, but a short distance east of the Golden Char- 
iot, was opened by a tunnel which cut the ledge at a considerable depth. In 
drifting upon it a body of ore of great richness was encountered. The Red 
Jacket mine, which was formerly worked by the Red Jacket Company, was 
operated under a lease, and the lessees took out considerable rich ore that had 
been left standing in the old workings. 

The Lady Washington mine lies north-east of the Red Jacket. A shaft 
was sunk from where the tunnel cuts the ledge, which ran in rich ore, but 
little was taken out, as the work was for development. 

Florida Mountain. — The Empire State mine is on the west side of the 
mountain, overlooking Blue Gulch. The country rock on the surface is much 
broken up, but as depth is attained it becomes more solid, and the walls of the 
ledges in consequence are better defined. A drift is being run on the vein to 
connect with the old shaft and winze. They are within a short distance of the 
winze, and have encountered rich ore in the face of the drift. 

The Black Jack mine is north-east of the Empire State. Fair milling ore 
was taken out, and from the indications it is supposed that a rich ore chute 
had been struck. 

The Starlight is north of the Black Jack, and is doubtless on the same 
vein. A drift is being run with a width of ore, in the face, of 18 inches of 
high-grade gold-bearing quartz. In running a cross-cut to tap the ledge, two 
well-defined veins of low-grade ore were found, one of them being S to 10 feet 
wide. 

The Boonville mine, also north of the Black Jack, was worked by A. J. 
Sands, who also milled the ore taken out. 

The Leviathan, south of the Empire State, is supposed to be on the same 
ledge as the latter. It is an old location and produced considerable ore, which 
yielded gold of a high degree of fineness. *r 

The Walter and Miller mine is on the east side of Florida Mountain, over- 
looking Silver City. The vein is about 2 feet in width, and a shaft has been 
sunk upwards of 100 feet ; the ledge is well opened with tunnels also. Mill 
runs of the ore, at the War Eagle mill, were reported as being quite satis- 
factory. 

With the exception of the Golden Chariot, which was worked for a short 
time by an incorporated company, all the mines of War Eagle and Florida 
Mountains were operated by private enterprise. 

At Wagon town, north-west of Silver City, the Webfoot was worked with a 
small force by Jones and Adams. The ledge has held out in width, and better 
ore was extracted than ever before. A considerable amount of ore is on tiie 



120 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

dump, awaiting improvement in the condition of the roads in order that it 
can be hauled to the mill. 

The Last Chance is situated near theWebfoot, and is supposed to be on the 
same vein. A ledge of about 2 feet in width showing good milling ore was ex- 
posed in doing assessment work. 

The Garfield is anew location half a mile west of the Webfuot. The ledge 
is about 18 inches in width, the ore being rich in silver. 

On the Wilson ledge a tunnel was run to cut the ledge, but it had not been 
reached by the close of the year. The vein is large and yields a low-grade 
free-milling ore. The upper tunnel struck the ledge at a depth of 50 feet. 

Flint District, south-east of Silver City, is an old mining district, in 
which many of the principal mines had been abandoned for upwards of ten 
years. During the past year a number of these mines were relocated and 
mining operations recommenced. The Rising Star mine was formerly worked 
to a depth of 300 feet, with a strong vein and good ore. The Rising Sun Com- 
pany, which operated the mine some years ago, also ran a tunnel on the ledge, 
but for some unexplained reason left the ore standing and abandoned their 
mine. Messrs. Warnkee and Sommercamp, who have been at work the past 
year, extracted ore from this tunnel that yields from $100 to $200 per ton. 

The Perseverance was never worked by an incorporated company. It has 
a strong vein, from which considerable good ore has been taken and is now on 
the dump. 

In Twilight Gulch, the Twilight mine is regarded as one of the best mines 
in the district. In early days very rich ore was produced, and the vein is a 
.'arge one. The Astor is south of the Twilight, and produces good ore. The 
south side is a contact between granite and porphyry. The ledge pitches to 
the east, and a shaft was started to strike it, but work was stopped before that 
had been accomplished. The ore is good, and if the mine was properly opened 
it would pay. Mammoth district is 4 miles east of Flint district, and was 
organized about the same time, Its ores resemble those of the latter. They 
are somewhat refractory and require roasting. 

The Mammoth ledge, which is one of the largest in the county, has been 
reopened with fair prospects. The ore assays from $10 to $800 to the ton, and 
the quantity is large, as the ledge is upwards of 40 feet in width. There are 
other ledges in this district which when opened up, will be likely to prove re- 
munerative. 

Stock-raising and Agriculture. — The pre-eminence that once character- 
ized Owyhee as a mining county is now gradually giving way to the cattle in- 
terest. 

On the ranges of Snake River, Bruneau, Reynolds, Catherine, Castle, 
Sinker, Cow, and Sucker creeks, and Pleasant Valley, cattle feed and 
fatten on the nutritious bunch-grass and white sage. On Sucker, Reynolds, 
and Catherine creeks are extensive sheep-ranges. There are in the county at 
present estimated to be 50,000 head of cattle, 30,000 head of sheep, and 10,000 
head of horses. 

Mr. M. Hyde of Silver City is the owner of about 15,000 head of cattle 
and several hundred horses. He is also the owner of 2,000 acres of farming 
and pasture land in the county. 

The testimony of butchers, stock-buyers, and drovers is that the cattle 
of Owyhee, "raised on those high prairies and hills, seldom fed in yards, never 
housed, and nourished on those native grasses, attain a perfection of form and 
largeness of bone and muscle, and a degree of strength, vigor, and nerve, rarely 
seen and never exceeded by animals of the same class and breed in any other 
locality East or West." 

In the bottom-lands of all the creeks named are fine agricultural areas. 

Bruneau Valley is rapidly settling up with farmers and stock-raisers, 
and already shows an almost continuous line of ranches nearly to the head 
waters. 

Its remoteness from market has hitherto somewhat retarded its develop- 
ment, but this obstacle is being overcome by railroad construction along the 
valley of Snake River. The valley is capable of supporting a large agricultu- 
ral population. It would not surprise us to find this before many years to be 
among the wealthiest agricultural sections of the Territory. 



RESOURCES- OF IDAHO. 121 

Along many of the creeks fruit orchards have been raised with success. 
Apples of the finest varieties are raised along Reynolds Creek ; and grapes 
and peaches said to be equal if not superior to those of Boise 1 Valley are raised 
along Sinker Creek. Cereals and graius of all kinds grow in abundance in all 
the valleys named, and especially along Catherine and Castle creeks in east- 
ern Owyhee, and through Pleasant Valley in western Owyhee. 

Silver City is the county seat and chief town in the county. Like all 
mining towns, it is subject to alternate periods of prosperity and depression. 
A weekly newspaper, the Avalanclie, one of the oldest in the Territory, is pub- 
lished there. 

There are lodges of Freemasons and Odd Fellows, and a chapter of Royal 
Arch Masons. There are two good schools. 

A Large Horse-ranch. — The Oregon Horse and Land Company have 
ranches located in Lost Valley, or the old Le Bard ranch ; one at the mouth of 
Sucker Creek, near the Snake River; one at three forks of the Sucker (the 
Dave Shea ranch); also the old McCusick ranch, on Owyhee Creek. The range 
occupied is 85 by 150 miles in Idaho and Oregon. The stock of horses owned 
were originally well-selected Oregon mares, which have since been bred to 
Norman Percheron horses, and to-day the average of the entire band is probably 
not exceeded on the coast. They are the largest horse-owners in the United 
States, having over 8,000 head of fine, large Oregon horses. The present 
season they purchased eleven stallions from the celebrated breeding farm 
of M. W. Dunham, Wayne, Illinois. Besides the above they added six 
Percherons from the Marshal Ney horse, owned in Oregon, They have in 
use about 200 stallions on their ranches. During the past season their ship- 
ments to Eastern markets were twenty-five car-loads, and their purchases this 
season amounted to 3,000 head. The company began business about one year 
ago, succeeding one or two individuals owning ranches and bands of horses. 
Last year they purchased 5,000 head, and have rapidly come to the front as 
the leading horse-owners of Idaho and the Pacific Coast. 



SHOSHONE COUNTY. 

In 1861 this county was organized as a tributary to Washington Terri- 
tory, and continued so until the formation of Idaho, and it was then organized 
as Shoshone County of Idaho Territory, February 4, 1864. As already 
related, gold deposits were discovered in Shoshone County in 1860, by Captain 
Pierce, from whom the present county seat, Pierce City, was named. The 
prospects proved to be very remunerative, and in a short time were ascertained 
to be extensive. Oro Fino, Oro Grande, Rhodes, and Cow creeks, with their 
numerous tributaries, were all found to produce gold in very fair paying quan- 
tities. The camp soon acquired a famous reputation as the Oro Fino 
mines, and for fifteen years supported a population of two thousand, during 
which time a large amount of gold-dust was shipped weekly from the camp. 

The agricultural lands of the countj^ are not extensive, by far the greater 
portion of its large area being stricHy mineral, rugged and mountainous, 
mostly covered with dense forests of pine, fir, and .tamarack, and thick under- 
growth. 

It is for this reason principally that the county is in its present backward 
condition, as so many other portions of the Territory have offered easier access 
to their mineral deposits. But in the course of time the ax of the pioneer 
and adventurous miner will hew its way to the undiscovered treasures. 

There are, however, some known localities in the county where agri- 
cultural pursuits are followed with success and profit. The Weippe Plain, 
extending from the Clearwater along the northern slope of the Lolo Fork of 
said river for a distance of at least thirty miles, offers as seductive opportuni- 
ties for agricultural pursuits as may be found in northern Idaho. A number 
of ranches have been located upon this plain for several yeai*s past, and are at 
present in a flourishing and prosperous condition, with still room left for many 
more with-equal, if not more favorable, positions and locality. 

9 



122 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

Mining. — That portion of Shoshone County lying between the Bitter 
Root Range and the spur of the same range known as the Coeur d'Alene but 
two years past was an unknown wilderness. To-day the Coeur d'Alene has 
become famous throughout the continent, and known perhaps wherever the 
English language is spoken, for the richness and extent of its mineral re- 
sources. In contemplating the fact we may confidently predict a prosperous 
future for Shoshone. 

Coeur d'Alene Mines. — "The name Cceur d'Alene," says Mr. E. V. 
Smalley, writing in the Century magazine for October, 18S4, "means heart of 
an awl, or awl-hearted, and was bestowed by the early French trappers upon 
the tribe of Indians inhabiting the shores of the lake on the western side of 
the mountains. The tradition is that the trappers found these Indians so 
inhospitable, and so close in their fur-bartering operations, that they declared 
that their hearts were no bigger than the point of a shoemaker's awl, so the 
name stuck, first to the tribe, then to the lake, then to the river, which is the 
lake's principal affluent, and to the mountain it drains, and lately it has been 
applied to everything connected with the new mining camp." This is a com- 
monly accepted derivation of the name, which unfortunately loses its interest 
from the fact that it is probably entirely erroneous. Since the expression has 
come into such publicity during the past year, much discussion has been raised 
concerning its true origin and meaning. Mr. Joseph Paine, United States 
Indian interpreter at Fort Cceur d'Alene, relieves the reputation of the 
aborigines in the following much more natural explanation: 

"Ccetjr d'Alene, Idaho, October 5, 1S85* 
" James L. Onderdonk, Esq., Boise" City, Idaho: 

"Dear Sir — Answering your communication of the 3d instant, I have 
to say as follows: During the time of the Hudson's Bay Company the present 
Mullan road was an Indian and trappers' trail. Near where now stands the old 
Catholic mission on said road is a short but very steep hill. Indians and 
trappers on coming to this hill would dismount from their horses, and walking 
beside their animals, would climb the hill. On reaching the top all would be 
'out of breath' or 'winded,' and would have to stop to rest. This fact 
gave the name to the country round about of ' Coeur d'Alene,' meaning short 
of breath, or panting. When the priests came to this country they found this 
name given to this part of the country, and choosing the beautiful spot where 
now stands the old mission, gave the name of Cceur d'Alene, supposing it to 
be in the heart of the country which has now become the name of a small tribe 
of Indians, as well as a lake, river, and range of mountains." 

Probably the best way to reach the Coeur d'Alene mines at present is 
either from Thompson's Falls or Trout Creek. Both of these points are way- 
stations in Montana on the Northern Pacific. From either of these points it 
is a day's ride on horseback over the mountains. By far the pleasantest 
mode of egress is by canoe down the Coeur d'Alene River to the old mission, 
where is the landing for the steamboats which navigate the rest of the river, 
and across the lake to Fort Cceur d'Alene. Stages run from this point over 
fine level roads to Rathdrum on the Northern Pacific, distant eleven miles. 

The best-developed and most valuable claim in the district is the Gillette, 
now owned by Messrs. Porter & Henderson. It is located a short distance 
below Murray. During our last visit in October last forty men were employed, 
thirty as miners. The claim was yielding at the rate of an ounce per day per 
man. A number of handsome nuggets have been extracted. 

The following description of the Coeur d'Alene region has been prepared 
for this work by Rev. W. D. Shippen of Murray: 

Gold! The very name excites, man's most active thoughts of acquisition, 
his most earnest spirit of enterprise, and prompts him to the most exhaustive 
and hazardous pursuits for the discovery and development of the rich treasures 
of the rocks and gulches of the mountains. The announcement of the discovery 
of accessible fields of rich mineral deposits is but the watch-word for a mining 
stampede, in which excited multitudes of eager searchers for the hidden treas- 
ures join and press through every opposing barrier, endure every toil, priva- 
tion, and hardship, and face every danger. Experiences of the severest 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 123 

character seem only to incite "old timers" to the boldest and foremost rush 
to newly discovered gold-fields. They are the first to come, the best to stay, 
and the last to grumble; strong in faith, active in pursuit, and most patient in 
endurance, they teach the pilgrim lessons of prospecting enterprise, and lead 
the faltering tender-foot to achievements of the richest discoveries and devel- 
opments of the precious treasures of the great mineral belts. 

The first discovery of gold in paying quantities in Coeur d'Alene was 
made on Pritchard Creek, near to and east of where the town of Murray is now 
rapidly growing into extensive proportions and notable business importance. 
The discovery was made in the summer of 1SS0 by three old prospectors, M. 
Gillett, A. J. Pritchard, and R. T. Horn. The first pan of dirt that gave 
promise of the existence of gold here in paying quantities was washed out by 
Mr. Gillett, and was taken from rim-rock, on what is now known as the Gillett 
or Discovery Claim. These prospectors then took out about $45 of coarse gold 
here in one day, and the discovery was first made public by Mr. Pritchard, 
hence the name of the stream, Pritchard Creek. Soon after the discovery 
the party went out, and Mr. Pritchard spent the winter of 18S0-1 at Evolu- 
tion in securing means to support him while further prospecting this district 
during the summer and fall of 1881, in which season he found gold in paying 
quantities at all the points prospected for several miles on Pritchard Creek. 
In 18S2 he made known these discoveries by letter to some friends, whom he 
requested to keep the matter secret and join him in the spring of 1883 with 
a suitable outfit of tools, clothing, and provisions for the prospecting season. 
His friends were not sufficiently quiet, and the news getting abroad, he was 
confronted in the spring of 1883 by an eager multitude, who were unprepared 
with either tools, clothing, or food sufficient to go into the mountains on 
which the snow yet lay several feet deep. Yet these eager searchers for gold 
insisted on being shown the discovered grounds where it could be obtained. 
As threats of hanging were made if Mr. Pritchard did not lead the way, he 
finally guided them to the place of discovery, but the waters being too high, 
bed-rock could not be reached, and most of the stampeders left the diggings, 
strongly denouncing Mr. Pritchard and the country. Those who remained 
till the waters were gone down made search and found gold in satisfactory 
amounts to reward their patient endurance and efforts. The stampede now 
set in from all directions. Claims were taken all along Pritchard and Eagle 
creeks for miles, until in the spring of 1884 it was almost impossible to get even 
a small fraction on either of these main streams. But it was ascertained that 
the wash gravel on the mountains was very rich, and it was not long before the 
Old Channel was located in ten and twenty acre claims, and the whole country 
for miles was so staked and blazed as to make confusion doubly confounded to 
a novice of a prospector in search of a claim. Many farmers from Oregon 
and from Washington Territory having come in and taken large claims for them- 
selves and friends, and having in many cases very imperfectly marked their 
boundaries, soon found their claims relocated by those who were determined 
to share in the rich grounds at all hazards. Then commenced the course of 
litigation for the rights of claimants, which drew 7 its tedious length along till 
July or August, retarding development and checking business of every kind. 
To find the grounds so occupied in large lots as to prevent the opportunity of 
getting even a fraction of these gold-fields was so exasperating as to create 
an intense feeling in some towards the original locators; and as many of the 
claims were located in the names of parties who were never in the district, 
the jumping of claims became quite extensive, and many of the richest grounds 
were relocated, among which was the noted Widow Claim, and some others 
located originally by Mr. Pritchard in the name of some engaging and en- 
gage?oble widows, between whom and himself there was doubtless a mutual ad- 
miration, he being a widower at the time of the location of these mines. 
Some of these matronly ladies were in Eagle City at the term of court at 
which the title to these claims was settled, only to hear a decision given 
adverse to their golden hopes, and to retire, leaving the claims in possession 
of the "jumpers," who are familiarly known in all Coeur d'Alene as the 
' ' orphans, " or the ' ' widows' boys. " They are working these rich grounds with 
great success, and obtain very gratifying yields at every clean-up. We should 
here say that it is difficult to learn the exact amounts taken from different 



124 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

claims, as the proprietors do not wish to publish all the results of their mining 
work, and it is about as impertinent to ask them to tell the yield from a claim 
as it is to ask men of other pursuits what profits they are realizing. We may, 
however, give some account of different claims on Pritchard Creek, such as 
were willingly furnished us. Going down Pritchard Creek west from Marray, 
we first come to — 

The Finnell Fraction, which has two shafts down to bed-rock, about fifteen 
feet in depth, a drain-ditch of about 200 feet, and the owners are drifting to 
strike the shafts and get coarse gold in paying quantities at every clean-up. 

The Wilson and Clagget claim has shallow bed-rock ; runs two strings of 
sluices with a force of seven men, and its yield is very satisfactory to the 
owners. 

Idaho Bar is owned by G-. B. Ives and John Silverthorn. It lies in form 
of a V along the north side of Pritchard Creek. It contains about fifteen 
acres. The bed-rock is shallow. They run three strings of sluices, work ten 
men, and average about $7 per day to the man. 

The original discovery belongs to John McAleer & Company ; is a ten- 
acre claim ; bed-rock from four to six feet deep ; has one drain ditch six hun- 
dred feet long and one eight hundred feet long ; has two strings of sluice 
boxes and ten men. They are putting in a large wheel and pump. The gold 
is mostly fine, but some nuggets have been found in it worth $9 each. The 
diggings pay $8 per day to the man. 

The Last Chance claim is divided among about a dozen partners, all of 
them industrious and enterprising. The main yields of the claim are of coarse 
gold, and it has furnished some ten-ounce nuggets. It has two strings of 
sluices and twenty-two men, and pays $8 per day to the man. 

The 0. K. claim has two strings of sluices ; works fifteen men ; 1 J ounces 
to the man per day. The gold is coarse, and has furnished some twelve-ounce 
nuggets and many smaller ones. The company have taken out nearly $9,000 
from it. 

The Frank Grove claim is just opening, works four men, and yields fine 
gold. 

The McGuire claim belongs to Ballou, Warden & Gove, who are sinking 
a shaft, from which they raise all the water effectually with a pump, worked 
by a sixteen horse-power engine. The shaft is twenty-three feet deep and not 
yet to bed-rock. It is situated near the center of Pritchard Gulch, about three 
fourths of a mile east of Eagle City, on the Murray road. 

There are a number of claims on the gulch between Eagle and Murray 
which are just being opened, but cannot be effectually worked without the aid 
of machinery. On all of the claims here mentioned, as well as most on this 
gulch, the immense growth of timber is a great hinderance to the opening and 
working of the mines. The stupendous cedars, pines, and other large growths 
have to be undermined, and often fall in the ditches, and must be cut and split 
up, and sometimes have to be blown to pieces with powder in order to be made 
movable. Especially is this the case with their ponderous stumps and roots, 
some of which, while in a body, weigh tons, and cannot be moved till blown to 
pieces. 

The Widow claim lies at the mouth of Gold Run and at the east end 
of Murray, on Pritchard Gulch, and is being very successfully worked by its 
owners, the "widows' boys," or "orphans," whose title was settled at the 
session of Shoshone County Court, held in Eagle City, in July and August, 
18S4. The claim is very rich, and yields a large daily average to the man. 

The Butte boys from Butte City, Montana, and several other companies, 
are working good claims on this gulch between Murray and Littlefiekl, where 
Dr. Littlefield is taking out good pay from his rich claims at and below the 
mouth of Butte Creek, but the exact output of gold from his grounds is not 
made public. But few claims are being worked between Littlefield and Ra- 
ven, three miles above on this gulch. 

A great amount of prospecting has been done on Eagle Creek, both above 
and below Eagle City, but with no satisfactory results except on the claim of 
Dr. Campbell, about one mile above the confluence of Eagle Creek with the 
north fork of Coeur d'Alene River. This claim has been very expensive to 
open, but is said to be paying this season. Gold has been discovered on both 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 125 

the east and north forks of Eagle Creek and on some of their tributaries, but 
has not been obtained in paying quantities. The same disadvantages of mining 
exist on these streams as on Pritchard Creek as to a superabundance of timber 
and water. Besides these main gulches, there are numerous rich claims found 
in the side gulches. 

The Webfoot claim, on the famous Dream Gulch, is so called because it 
was discovered by Oregon men. It received the name of Dream Gulch on ac- 
count of a mysteriouss dream by which one of its chief discoverers was directed 
to the first rich strikes that were made on it. This gulch runs into Pritchard 
Creek from the north about one mile west of Murray, and is one of the largest 
tributaries of that stream between Eagle City and Murray. The gold is coarse, 
and is a little mixed with quartz. The company have taken out about $36,000 
from this claim, all of which came from a very small spot of ground compara- 
tively. A portion of this gold was in very large nuggets, one of which weighed 
19£ ounces. Several of the owners sold a one-eighth interest each for $8,000. 
The property is considered a very valuable one, and large yields are still ex- 
pected from it. It has already made several of its owners, who were formerly 
in moderate circumstances, quite well off, and its liberal yields have been well 
bestowed on men who are industrious, temperate, and economical, and w T ill use 
their means as good citizens. 

Alder Gulch enters Pritchard Creek at the west end of the town of Mur- 
ray, coming in also from the north, and is nearly as large as Dream Gulch and 
furnishes more w r ater. There are some rich claims on this stream, but the bed- 
rock is deep, making it more expensive to mine. Campbell, Pease & Co. have 
taken some nice nuggets and some coarse gold from their claim, which is well 
up towards the head of the gulch. 

Dry Gulch has one claim on it, from which several good nuggets and 
a considerable quantity of coarse gold have been taken. A half interest 
in this claim was sold by its discoverer, W. H. Freeman, to banker William 
Hawkins for $10,000. There are several other good claims on this gulch, but 
they have not been developed yet so as to pay. 

Buckskin and Missoula Gulches between Dream and Alder also have 
some good claims on them that will yield richly when sufficient supplies of 
water are brought on them. 

Gold Run Gulch comes in at the east end of Murray, entering Pritchard 
Creek also from the north. Some very coarse gold and several good-sized 
nuggets have been taken from this gulch. Judge W. H. Clagget and Johnny 
Miller are opening a bar claim just at the mouth of this gulch, which pros- 
pects very rich. Above this, and between it and Butte Creek, which enters 
Pritchard Gulch at Littlefield, come in from the north, Cougar, Wesp, and 
Ruder gulches, from all of which good prospects have been taken, and on all . 
which locations have been made from their mouths to their sources. From 
them much treasure will be taken when a sufficient supply of water can be 
obtained. 

Butte Gulch, which also comes in from the north, joins Pritchard Creek 
at the town of Littlefield. It also is very rich, and is claimed from mouth to 
source. It is at the mouth of and immediately below this that the rich 
claims of Dr. Littlefield are located, which are being so successfully worked 
by him. 

Bear Gulch comes into Pritchard Creek at the little mining town of 
Raven. It prospects very rich, is all located, and has more water than any 
other side gulch we have named, but for some reason its rich grounds have 
not been as fully developed as its advantages and richness would seem to de- 
mand of those who have laid claims on it. It is only a question of timte, 
however, till it will contribute its full share to the rich treasures given 
from the wealthy gulches on the north side of Pritchard Creek between 
Eagle City and Raven. There are a number of small ravines on this side of 
Pritchard Gulch between Bear and Summit, but none mined to any notable 
extent. 

Granite Creek enters Pritchard Gulch from the south just above Raven 
and the mouth of Bear. Just below it, and on the same side of Pritchard, 
some rich bar diggings have been opened, and a ditch from Granite Creek 
brought on to them. There are no paying placers on Granite Creek, but 



126 RESOURCES 07 IDAHO. 

there are some rich quartz discoveries near its source in the mountaius. It 
affords a good stream of water all the year, and has a very rapid fall, and 
flows very swiftly. 

Tiger Gulch comes in from the south, nearly opposite Murray. Some 
good prospects have been found on it, and claims have been taken up almost 
to its source, but as yet none of them is paying. Tiger and Granite are the 
only gulches that are of any size or note coming in from the south between 
Eagle City and Sullivan. In a mere sketch at this early period of the partial 
development of the rich grounds on either side of Pritchard Creek it is im- 
possible to give more than a dim glance or cautious hint at the immense 
treasure that is yet to be washed from the golden sands of these wealthy side 
streams. It only requires that the abundant waters of the main streams be 
brought upon these mineral gardens, and the cleansing waves will wrench from 
their rocky coffers hundreds of thousands of dollars of bright gold, to in- 
crease the riches of Idaho, and add a tribute to the nation's wealth — compel- 
ling the public to recognize the intrinsic importance of this portion of the 
territory, and drawing hundreds of men and tons of machinery to this great 
mineral belt for its development. 

The Old Channel Wash. — Not the least among the mining interests of 
Cceur d'Alene are the rich deposits of gold found in the Old Channel Wash 0:1 
the mountains extending from above Bear Creek to Eagle City, and along the 
mountains on Eagle Creek for some distance towards the north fork of Cceur 
d'Alene River, its entire length being over twenty miles, estimated by some at 
thirty miles. The mining records of Cceur d'Alene district show that the first 
location on this rich channel was made by A. F. Parker, editor of the Cceur 
d'Alene Eagle, published at Eagle City. His discovery was made and recorded 
in October, 1883, and during that fall and the following winter this Old Chan- 
nel on the mountains along Pritchard and Eagle creeks was so covered with 
claims as to render it almost impossible to get any of it in the spring of 1884 
without relocating grounds that were already claimed. One of the first of 
these Old Channel claims was opened by Reese Bros, and Palmer, on Alder 
Hill, on the north side of the mountains, near Murray. These gentlemen 
obtained rich pannings by carrying the dirt from the hill to the creek to wash 
out the gold, but they have since brought a small sluice head of water onto the 
diggings, by which they can secure much more satisfactory results. The first 
day's wash of a small amount of gravel yielded a clean-up of $18. The gold 
shows a bright, clear, yellow appearance, and is smoothly washed. Just oppo- 
site this claim on the east side of Alder, on the hill north of Murray, is the Free- 
man fraction on this old wash, from which Mr. Freeman carries the dirt in 
sacks some distance down the mountain to water and washes out of it from $3 
to $6 per day of yellow coarse gold. The first time Mrs. Freeman, wife of 
the owner, visited this claim, she picked up from the bed-rock an ounce nug- 
get which she preserves as a memento of her first visit to this camp and this 
mine. Back & Co. also mined from their Old Wash claim, on the north 
side of the moimtain at Raven, coarse gold to the amount of $8 per day to the 
man. The yield of these several claims, of such uniform height from the creek 
bed, and such a distance apart, shows a uniform richness of the gravel on this 
Old Channel, as well as the great similarity of the character of the gold takeu 
from it at different points. It is a fact worthy of note that this Wash Chan- 
nel lies almost altogther on the north side of the main Pritchard Gulch. 
Though at and below Osborne, and about a mile above Eagle, it diverges to 
the south side, where some rich prospecto have been found on the mountains, 
and several claims have been located. 

Eagle City is situated near the junction of Eagle and Pritchard creeks, 
and between the two streams. The site is a beautiful one for a town, the two 
principal streets, Eagle and Pritchard, forming almost a complete angle at the 
foot of the mountain — Eagle street stretching up the valley of Eagle Creek to 
the north, and Pritchard street extending up the valley of Pritchard creek to 
the east. In the early part of the year 1SS1, Eagle City gave promise of 
becoming the metropolis of the Coeur d'Alene. Town lots were laid out and 
taken up for fully three fourths of a mile along each valley, and were rated very 
high. Extensive improvements were rapidly made, expensive business houses 
were erected, and there was a general rush of business of all kinds common to 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 127 

a stampede mining camp. But as the richest mines being opened were more 
contiguous to Murray, four miles east of Eagle, up Pritchard Creek, business 
began early in the season to center in that rival burg, which soon began to 
lead, and before midsiunmer had largely absorbed the business interests and 
trade of the Cceur d'Alene, so that Eagle City is now almost deserted. 

Murray is now the business center of this mining region; many substan- 
tial business houses have been erected here, tire-proof cellars provided, in 
which tons of goods are stored for the trade of the country, and a number of 
very comfortable dwellings have been built, and a commodious hospital is be- 
ing erected for the care of the sick, a public school has been established, a 
good bank has been opened, and a live newspaper, the Idaho Sun, is published 
tri-weekly. Every branch of business is carried on in the spirit of genuine 
business enterprise. The medical and legal professions are well represented, 
and Murray seems favored with all the elements that contribute to the per- 
manent prosperity of a mining town. The people of this great mining dis- 
trict are of no ordinary class, but are of more than average intelligence, who 
see first the great resources of the West, and with comprehension and earnest 
spirit of enterprise seize and appropriate them as the rightful inheritance of 
the industrious and self-sacrificing citizens of this free domain for themselves, 
their heirs, and their country. 

Beaver Creek runs about parallel with Pritchard Creek, and empties 
into the north fork of Cceur d'Alene River about seven miles below where 
Pritchard Creek enters that stream. It heads high up in the mountains from 
which Granite Creek flows into Pritchard Creek. There are some very rich 
discoveries of quartz leads as well as placer deposits on this stream, from which 
it is becoming very attractive as a mining region, called Beaver district. The 
placers are generally deep on this creek, and have to be mined mostly by 
drifting. Reports of rich strikes in this district are frequent, and the bank 
at Murray is receiving numerous deposits of considerable quantities of beautiful 
coarse gold from these diggings, which are becoming noted as among the 
richest in the Cceur d'Alene. In this district is the little camp of 

Carbon Center, so named on account of the large deposits of cai'boniferous 
ores found in that vicinity. Among these we mention the Silver Tip and the 
.Sunset lodes; the latter being an extension of the former, and the two con- 
sisting of a mineral body that appears to be almost a mountain of ore. The 
same character of quartz is found in large bodies on Canon Creek, several 
miles east from these leads, and is supposed to be but an extension of the 
same veins. Going down Beaver from Carbon a distance of three miles to 
the Ingram gardens, thence bearing south-west two and a half miles up a 
gulch to the summit, thence down a gulch to the south and west to the south 
fork of Cceur d'Alene River, and entering the old Mullaii road half a mile 
above Evolution, is one of the most natural routes for a wagon-road that can 
be found in all this mountain region, owing to its easy grade through a low 
pass. It will doubtless in time become a great public thoroughfare to the 
mines. This route takes us to the region of 

Nigger Prairie. — This name is given to a small grassy opening in the 
timber on the old Mullan road. It was so named from having been occupied 
by a negro man as an eating and feeding station several years ago, and who it 
is said was killed by an Indian, and left dead on the premises, and was found' 
and buried by white men. This clothes its history with a somewhat romantic 
sadness. 

The Quartz Mines of this locality are very numerous, and almost fabu- 
lously rich. From Mr. Carl Trowbridge we learned that the Hunter district 
was organized on the 4th day of September, 1884. 

The Earl and Potts leads assay 1,000 ounces in silver per ton, and the 
Hunter lode is a large vein of 400-ounce rock. 

The James G. Blaine is almost a mountain of ore, which assays $12 in 
gold per ton, and carries a trace of silver. It is owned by Mr. Carl Trowbridge, 
who regards it as a very rich strike. 

The Silver Wave shows very rich in silver, and is five feet and a half 
wide. 

The Napoleon is fifteen feet wide, is an iron and silver lead, and is -very, 
rich. It is owned by Thomas Noland, who prizes it very highly. 



12S RESOURCES OE IDAHO. 

The Columbia is a well-defined vein twelve, feet wide, very rich in silver, 
and is owned by Frank Bal. 

Leads of the above description are very numerous in the Hunter district, 
where fully one hundred quartz locations have been made and recorded. The 
most intelligent and experienced mining men who have visited this part of Coeur 
d'Alene express the belief that in a few years this will become one of the most 
prosperous quartz-mining portions of Idaho. 

At Nigger Prairie, the center of the Hunter district, Messrs. Marr & 
Good have laid off a town site, which the miners named Marrgood in honor 
of the enterprising proprietors. Several miners of this district will winter 
here, and several at each of the other camps in the district — Camp Noland, 
three miles west, Placerville, six miles west, Chloride Hill, three miles north, 
and French Boys, three miles east. In all about fifty men will stay in the 
district during the winter. Game of all kinds is plenty, the winters are mild, 
and the miners know to hunt, and will live well. 

Mountain lakes nestle in the very tops of the Rockies, like a bevy of min- 
iature seas, at the heads of Granite and Pritchard creeks on the north side, 
and at the sources of Beaver and Canon creeks on the south side of the range, 
among the peaks in which these streams all take their rise. 

These lakes vary in size from twenty to a hundred acres in area. They 
are all as clear as crystal, glistening in the sunlight by day, and reflecting the 
very image of the moon and stars by night. Their waters are always fresh 
and cold; from all of them flow beautiful streams down the mountain gorges — 
in places leaping and plunging in roaring cataracts over steep, rocky walls 
from ten to thirty feet high — romping and rollicking down the stony stair- 
ways of their mountain home. They make the piney forests resonant with the 
music of their merry laugh by day and their solemn song by night. They are 
fourteen in number, in a radius of from five to seven miles. Fish abound in 
some of them, as well as in all of the streams that flow from them. Game of 
all kinds is plentiful in the forests all around, and this is destined to become 
one of the most delightful and attractive pleasure resorts for sportsmen in the 
Rocky Mountains. When wagon and coach roads are built to Murray and 
other prominent mining camps in the Cceur d'Alene, and capital and ma- 
chinery are brought to bear to lift the mineral treasures from these gulches, 
or pound and smelt them from the rocks, and the wealth of these rich deposits 
is more fully known, recognized, and sought after, and population comes with 
all its developing energies and refining influence — then this land, so despised 
and denounced by some, grossly misrepresented by others, will blossom as the 
rose : so rich are its mines, so fertile its soil, so plentiful and refreshing its 
waters, so abundant its timbers, so grand its mountains, so beautiful its lakes, 
and so sublime its scenery. It will be to those who dwell in it like Mt. Zion 
was to the ancient Jew, "beautiful for situation, and the joy of the whole 
earth." 

In addition to the quartz locations mentioned by Mr. Shippen may be 
mentioned the prospects on what is called the Cceur d'Alene chloride belt, 
situate about eight miles from Eagle City, on the west fork of Eagle Creek. 

Chief of these are the Margaret, Oregonian, Webfoot, Tribune, Emily, 
May, and Coolidge. The ore from these ledges shows up a yellow chloride 
that is very rich in silver, the lowest figures from a half-dozen assays being 
$51 in silver, while the highest has reached $1,300 of silver to the ton. The 
ore is also rich in gold, and being of the free-milling variety, can be easily 
and cheaply worked. Dr. W. Lang Chapman and Dr. E. 0. Smith of Port- 
land, Oregon, are the owners of these ledges, and they have done considerable 
development work on the Margaret, which makes a better showing for the 
depth attained than any other quartz property in the camp. The Margaret 
was bonded some time since for $30,000, and we learn that a half-interest in 
the mine was disposed of to Portland capitalists for $25,000. 

The forks of the Eagle are described as a veritable network of massive 
quartz veins, such as the Mammoth, Silver Belle, Pan Handle, Golden Eagle, 
and countless others, while to the eastward of the North Fork is the Gray 
Eagle, already incorporated for $100,000. 

Then there are also the Skookum belt of quartz ledges, three miles 
up Pritchard Creek, and the New Comstock with its extensions, an equal 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 129 

distance below town. None of these ledges are on the same belt as the famous 
Mother Lode, or the Fannie, or the Carbon Center group. 

Nearly all of these have been discovered since May 1, 1884. 

The Mother Lode is one of the most singular formations ever unearthed 
in quartz lead. There is an immensely rich slab of gold quartz right in the 
bed of the creek. It is apparently a quartz dike, which crosses Pritchard 
Creek at right angles but parallel with the bed-rock formation. The piece 
which was open to inspection is thickly splashed with gold, containing sev- 
eral rich veins. The estimates of the gold in sight are said to have been as 
various as the men who made the estimates. The mine is now (November, 
1884) bonded for $130,000, with privilege of driving a tunnel 75 feet along the 
ledge and sinking 25 feet. The tunnel is now in 70 feet, and for this distance, 
as we are assured, it reveals the same wonderful wealth that first brought the 
lode into prominence. It is said that the original discovery was only a 
bowlder, being so thickly spattered with gold that it was deemed impossible 
that any ledge could carry such rock. It now seems to be certain that it is a 
well-defined, true fissure vein, and will be absurdly cheap at the price speci- 
fied in the bond. 

The Fannie mine on Trail Creek shows a four-foot vein of galena, with a 
three-inch stratum of gold-bearing quartz on the hanging wall that is "literally 
held together by stringers of gold." A five-stamp battery is to be erected 
next spring to reduce the ore from this mine. 

William H. Chambers, Esq., assayer, of Eagle City, has kindly furnished 
me with the following abstract of assays made by Timmons & Chambers, 
Eagle, Idaho: 

Margaret lode, situated six miles above Eagle, on Eagle Creek, six-foot 
fissure vein, silver $55, gold $51. 

Gray Eagle mine, situated three miles from Eagle, on Eagle Creek, four- 
foot vein, galena, silver 55 ounces. 

Mother lode, five and one half miles above Eagle, on Pritchard Creek, 
eight-foot vein, gold quartz, 14 ounces gold. 

Montana lode, situated four miles from Eagle, two-foot vein, galena, 21 
ounces silver. 

Kate Burnette, Golden Chest, and Golden Gate, all in Pveader Gulch ; 
average per ton, $30 gold. 

Virginia lode, situated three miles above Eagle, twenty-foot fissure vein ; 
average assay from vein, $40 gold, free-milling gold quartz, owned by W. D. 
Waite, Eagle, Idaho. 

Skukum lode, situated on Pritchard Creek, two miles above Eagle ; gold 
quartz, $14 gold. 

Bullion and Monarch mines, carbonate ores, four-foot veins, 40 to 60 
ounces silver sulphuret ores. 

Lucky Baldwin, situated m Dream Gulch, two-foot vein ; gold quartz, 
$25 gold. 

Dream ledge, Dream Gulch, four-foot vein, $8 gold. 

The Sunset group, six miles from Eagle, Beaver district, comprising eight 
distinct ledges. Galena and carbonate ores, average 40 to 60 ounces silver. 

The Jack Waite property, situated tweWe miles above Eagle, on the east 
fork of Eagle Creek, copper and galena ore, twenty-foot fissure vein. Average 
from 40 to 160 ounces silver. 

Eagle, Idaho, Sept. 30, 1884. 
Hon. J. L. Onderdone!. s * 

Dear Sir — In submitting the above abstract from my assay memo- 
randum, I will add that I cannot vouch for the description of the above 
properties only as they have been given me by the owners, excepting as to 
the ores assayed by me. Without exception, the properties named in the 
above abstract have had but little or no work done on them to demonstrate 
whether the veins are of a permanent character or not. The outlook for the 
camp I consider very encouraging, and all we need is capital to unearth our 
golden treasures, and we will demonstrate to the croakers that we have the 
banner mines of the Pacific slope. I have included in abstract but a few of 
the many quartz properties in our camp. Very truly yours, 

W. H. Chambers. 



130 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

Judge William H. Claggett, writing from Murray, under date of Septem- 
ber 22, 18S4, gives the following candid statement of the true situation of 
the Coeur d'Alene mines : 

"Before the claims on these tributaries could be opened for work, the 
water supply from the melting of the snow failed, and the high water in the 
main gulch discouraged, if it did not wholly prevent, any systematic attempt to 
open the claims. Then, just when everybody was getting ready to work, 
the entire camp found itself involved in litigation. Suits were begun in the 
district court to recover possession of nearly every claim in the camp. This 
litigation absolutely paralyzed development down to the Gth day of August, 
when the court adjourned. The result of the trials was to leave the claims in 
the hands of those who were called the 'jumpers,' and for the purposes of 
development, the Gth day of August last was the beginning of the life of the 
camp. Everything of any consequence in the shape of placer mining has been 
done since that date, which makes the camp at this time, to all practical 
intents and purposes, less than two months old. There being no water in the 
tributaries with which to mine, the development has been confined to the 
main gulch, commencing about two miles above Eagle and running up the 
gulch a distance of about seven miles. The gulch itself is more like a moun- 
tain basin than anything else. It is from 40 to 120 rods wide, and on the 
north side, having a general parallel course With it, there are several old 
river-beds or channels having a vertical elevation above the gulch of from 75 
to 300 feet, through which intersecting ravines have cut, and the main gulch 
is mostly supplied with gold washed down from these old river-beds. This 
' old wash,' as it is commonly called, has been traced for a distance of thirty 
miles. Thousands of acres of it have been located. In the absence of water 
to work it, it has thus far been only slightly prospected by shafts and tun- 
nels, the miners waiting for some one with sufficient capital to bring water 
upon the hills. 

"Messrs. Walsh & Hubbel, old and experienced placer miners from 
California, are now digging a ditch for this purpose, and when this and other 
ditches are completed, the Coeur d Alene region will be an eye-opener to those 
who imagine that there is nothing there. Men are now packing gravel in 
sacks from the sides of the mountain upon their backs to water, and making 
from $25 to $50 per week. When a sufficient number of mining ditches shall 
be dug, the whole aspect of things will be changed. The water being taken 
from the main gulch will enable the gulch miners to work to better advan- 
tage. Troubled as they are with a superfluity of water, hydrauli eking the hill 
ground will make available the immense resources of wealth which it contains, 
while the muddy water, turned back into the main gulch, will puddle the bed 
of Pritchard Creek, so that the gulch claims can be successfully opened in the 
deep ground. Three or four days before leaving home I went over the entire 
camp where mining has been carried on, and found that less than four acr^'j 
of bed-rock had been cleaned up, all told. This shows a yield of over $40,000 
to the acre. The present output of gold is not less than 1,000, nor more than 
1,500, ounces of dust per week. Several of the claim-owners ship their dust 
directly to Helena, and my estimate is based upon my knowledge as to what 
these claims yield, the quantity of dust purchased weekly by the banks, and 
taken in by a few of the merchants. It is a mistake to suppose that Pritchard 
Gulch comprises the entire gold-field. On Trail Gulch several claims are 
opened, and are proved to be rich, while there is as much to show that Beaver 
Creek is rich as Pritchard Gulch itself showed last spring. There are two 
great wants to be supplied : first, a number of mining ditches to carry water 
upon the old wash; and second, a practicable wagon-road into the mines, over 
which mining machinery can be hauled and coaches travel." 

As both these wants will in all probability be supplied next season, we 
may look for a record from Coeur d'Alene in the future which will more than 
realize the golden dreams said to have given tb.e name to one of the richest 
gulches. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 131 



WASHINGTON COUNTY. 

This coxmty was organized February 20, 1879, from portions of Ada and 
Idaho counties. It is situated in western Idaho, being bounded on the north 
by Idaho County, on the east by Idaho and Boise counties, on the south by 
Ada County, and on the west by the State of Oregon. Its area is 3,000 
square miles. 

The county has been especially favored by nature, as agriculture, stock- 
raising, and mining can each be followed successfully. Weiser Valley, Indian 
Valley, Middle Valley, and Mann's Creek are rapidly filling up with a pros- 
perous farming population. Fruits, cereals, and all kinds of vegetables grow 
iu abundance. 

As an indication of the growth of the county during the past five years 
may be mentioned the fact that in 1S79 the assessed valuation of the entire 
county was $101,945, and there were 163 property-tax payers. In 1884 the 
assessed valuation had increased to $627,978.75, and the number of tax-payers 
to 509; and yet the real development of the county has scarcely begun. Late 
in the autumn of 1884 the Oregon Short Line was completed to within her 
borders, and her county seat, Weiser City, now enjoys the distinction of being 
an important station on a great transcontinental railroad. 

We are entering upon a new era in the history of western Idaho. The 
period of the overland stage-coach is nearly past, and the railroad and tele- 
graph are here. The pioneer may step into an elegant Pullman sleeping-car at 
Weiser and journey along without fatigue across the continent. In three to 
five days he may return to his childhood home in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, or 
even Maine. The news may be received by wire of the rise and fall of com- 
mercial values in London, New York, or any other of the world's great mar- 
kets, within an hour after they are called. The returns of the late election 
were received here nearly as soon as the} 7 were known in Chicago. Our mer- 
chants receive their freight as cheapl} 7 and as soon as they do at Ogden or Salt 
Lake City, Utah. Our horses, beef, wool, and other productions may be 
shipped to Boston, New York, Omaha, and Chicago at as low rates as the 
same articles were shipped from Wyoming Territory ten years ago. Our 
mines are enabled by the railway to ship their ores to Omaha, Salt Lake City, 
and San Francisco at comparatively low rates. For these and other reasons, 
with which we are all familiar, we are now entering upon a new era, and we 
must all now aim to adjust ourselves and our affairs to the new order of things. 
The farmer must turn his attention to raising horses, cattle, or sheep, instead 
of raising grain and vegetables. With the great natural grazing lands on 
every side, and the unequaled natural facilities for raising stock, the town of 
Weiser will grow into importance. Washington County is to-day claimed 
to be the banner county of the whole Territory, either in agricultural, 
grazing, or mineral lands. This county has some of the finest farms, fruits, 
grains, vegetables, horses, cattle, sheep, fish, timber, and it can show some 
of the most valuable mines. 

For several years prospecting has been going on along the eastern side of 
Snake River in what is generally known as the Weiser country. Washington, 
Heath, and Mineral districts show some of the finest prospects in the west. 

The Washington District is about twenty-five miles north-west from 
Weiser City, and about four miles east of Snake River. The district is about 
ten miles long and three miles wide, extending north-east and south-west 
from Fourth of July Camp to Rock Creek. 

The formation of the district is porphyry, and is said to bear considerable 
resemblance to the Comstock district in Nevada. The Black Maria, Mnldoon, 
and Daniel Boone are among the principal mines thus far located. The crop- 
pings vary in width from ten to fifty feet. The Black Maria has been opened 
by a shaft six by eight feet for a distance of 100 feet or more, on an incline 
of 40°, all in ore. Several hundred tons of ore have been extracted. It is 
free milling, and increases in richness as it increases in depth. The vein is 
regular in formation, and can be traced the whole extent of the location. 



132 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

The vein of the Daniel Boone is smaller than that of the Black Maria, but is 
exceedingly rich. 

The Heath District is about fifty miles north of Weiser. They are all 
large quartz ledges, carrying silver chlorides and copper. The Belmont, 
Greenhorn, and Philadelphia are prominent locations in this district. The 
first named has been worked successfully for several years. The region is 
well timbered and watered, and with its accessibility to railroads will doubt- 
less be thoroughly explored during the coming season. 

Mineral is now making regular bullion shipments. The richness of the 
mines has already been proved. 

Ruthburg District is in the hands of determined men, who are exposing 
at this writing thousands of tons of ore. 

Last, but not least, comes the Seven Devil country. This copper district 
will roll out thousands of tons of copper at no distant day, and, as is well 
known, the ores carry a fair per cent of gold and silver. 

The late discoveries made in what is known as the Seven Devil Mountains, 
situate some seventy-five miles north of Weiser, continue to excite the atten- 
tion of mining men. There are a great many veins in the district, carrying 
copper, gold, and silver. The copper runs as high as sixty per cent of the 
ores, with $12 in gold and $15 in silver. Weiser is the natural outfitting point 
to these mines. It -has a good wagon-road to within a short distance of the 
mines. There is abundance of timber for smelting purposes on the ground. 
The veins are wide and well defined, lying between granite and lime. The 
prospectors are still at work, and at every blast they are uncovering more 
ore. They come to Weiser, secure a fresh supply of provisions, and return 
without any unnecessary delay. Some of them will spend the winter at the 
mines. Great outcrops of peacock copper, ten and twenty feet wide, are found. 
It is a great camp ; free gold is found with the copper, as well as several ounces 
in silver. The natural facilities for reducing these ores upon the ground are 
unequaled. The timber is simply inexhaustible, plenty of lime and iron, and 
an abundance of water. This is beyond a question of doubt the coming coun- 
try. The spring will witness a great stampede of legitimate prospectors into 
the Seven Devil range. 

The placer mines of Snake River, in this county, are growing in impor- 
tance every year. The golden sands of that majestic river will be utilized at 
no distant day. There are large tracts of placer ground in the vicinity of the 
Seven Devil mines. This ground is said to pay two and three dollars per day 
to the man. Next spring we may expect this ground to be opened and give 
employment to a large number of men. 

Weiser City is the county seat and chief town of the county. It is the 
last town on the Oregon Short Line before crossing into Oregon, and appears 
to have a bright future before it. It is located on a pretty site on the north 
side of Weiser River, some distance before its confluence with Snake River. 
The mountains skirting the valley are not high, and afford good stock-ranges, 
while the soil of the broad valley is so rich, and lies so favorable for irrigation 
and cultivation, as to make this a most desirable country for farming, fruit- 
raising, and stock -ranches. Heretofore the chief industry has been that of 
stock-raising, and the country is well supplied with cattle and horses. The 
ranges are not confined alone to this side of the Snake, but extend across into 
Oregon, .up the Malheur and other valleys which come down from the west ; 
south-west to Snake River opposite this place, and which by means of ferry 
send trade here. Weiser has grown rapidly this year, and there are many good 
substantial buildings. It is healthy, and the climate is all that could be de- 
sired. It is the natural point for outfitting for the Seven Devil country, for 
Ruthburg, for Mineral, for Salmon Meadows, and Warrens. It is the ryitural 
manufacturing point for this county, either for lumber, flour, or woolen mills. 
It has valuable water-power for running machinery that will be utilized at no 
distant day, we hope. The valley adjacent may be made to blossom as the 
rose when all our water facilities are properly distributed. Mineral will al- 
ways trade here — the cattle, horse, and wool growers of this county must come 
here to the railroad. 

The people must have several large houses of general merchandise to 
enable them to buy their goods at living prices. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 133 

The valley above Weiser City produced large crops this season, the yield 
of grain being above the average. This valley is rapidly settling up. The 
canal which takes water from Weiser River and conveys it to irrigate lands of 
the valley, is nearing completion and will cover a large area. Here it is so 
high on the hills as to give some forty or fifty feet fall for use in the town, and 
it is proposed to put in pipes for a system of water-works. 



CHAPTER VII -IDAHO INDIANS. 



The native wild tribes of Idaho are now of chiefly historic interest. The 
existing remnants are confined to reservations, and are rapidly learning the arts 
of peace and civilization. There are four Indian agencies situated wholly 
within the limits of the Territory. According to the latest official reports, the 
registrations on these reservations were, in 18S3, as follows : 

Cceur d'Alene, Kootenai County, Pend d'Oreilles and Kootenais, 600. 

Nez Perce" (Fort Lap wai), Nez Perce* County, Nez Percys, 1,250. 

Lemhi, Lemhi County, Shoshones, Bannocks, and Sheepeaters, 800. 

Fort Hall, Ross's Fork, Oneida County, Bannocks, 471, Shoshones, 1,085. 

The Indians inhabiting the most northern portions of Idaho were the Koo- 
tenais, who dwelt in British Columbia and the extreme northern portion of 
Idaho, the Pend d'Oreilles, who dwelt about the lake of the same name, and 
for from fifty to seventy -five miles above and below the lake on Clarke's Fork ; 
and the Cceur d'Alenes, who dwelt on Cceur d'Alene Lake and its tributaries. 
The Pend d'Oreilles and Coeur d'Alenes belonged to the Salish family, which 
dwelt south of the Shush waps, between the forty-ninth and forty-seventh par- 
allels, and on the Columbia and its tributaries. The remnants of these last- 
named Indians now in Idaho are on the Coeur d'Alene reservation. Mr. 
Joseph Paine, United States Indian interpreter at Fort Cceur d'Alene, informs 
me that the Coeur d'Alenes had three settlements in north Idaho, one at the old 
mission, one at the mouth of Coeur d'Alene River, and one at the site of the 
present Fort Coeur d'Alene. The origin of the name is discussed in the article 
on Shoshone County. They number at present about two hundred and fifty, 
all converted to the Roman Catholic religion. Most of them have farms in 
severalty, own houses, cattle, sheep, wagons, mowers, reapers, and all neces- 
sary and improved agricultural implements, raise large crops of wheat, oats, 
patatoes, hay, etc. ; they own droves of hogs, and are to-day probably as 
prosperous and peaceful a tribe as can be found west of the Rocky Mountains. 
This tribe are self-supporting, and have never asked or received aid from the 
United States, and have never been at war with the white men. They have 
schools under the direction of the Roman Catholic nuns, and many of their 
young people are acquiring a fair knowledge of the English language. 

The Sahaptin family, like the Salish just described, belongs to the in- 
land tribes of the Columbia group. They inhabited the region between the 
Cascade and Bitter Root mountains, and the forty-fifth and forty-seventh par- 
allels. Of its nations, the Nez Percys or Sahaptins proper dwelt on the Clear- 
water and its branches, and on the Snake about the forks, Ross, in his work 
entitled " Fur Hunters," says they derive their name from the custom of bor- 
ing their noses to receive a white shell, like the fluke of an anchor. Most 
writers follow Ross in taking for granted that these Indians were so named 
from some habit of piercing their noses, though there is no tradition of any- 
thing of the sort. According to others it is a word tortured from nezpres, 



134 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

meaning flat nose, which was given them by the old French Canadian trappers 
in early days. 

Mr. H. H. Bancroft, to whose work on the Native Races of the Pacific 
Coast I am indebted for many of the items in the following pages, states that 
in bodily strength the Sahaptin Indians are inferior to the whites, but superior, 
as might be expected from their habits, to the more indolent fish-eaters on the 
Paciiic. The Nez Percys and Cayuses are considered the best specimens, 
while in the north the Kootenais seem to be superior to the other Shushwap 
nations. The Salish are assigned b}* Wilkes and Hale an intermediate place in 
physical attributes between the coast and mountain tribes, being in stature and 
proportion superior to the Chinooks, but inferior to the Nez Percys. Inland a 
higher order of face is observed than on the coast. The cheek-bones are still 
high, the forehead is rather low, the face long, the eyes black, rarely oblique, 
the nose prominent, and frequently aquiline, the lips thin, the teeth white 
and regular, but generally much worn. The general expression of the fea- 
tures is stem, often melancholy, but not as a rule harsh or repulsive. Dig- 
nified, fine-looking men, and handsome young women, have been remarked in 
nearly all the tribes, but here again the Sahaptins bear off the palm. The 
complexion is of decidedly coppery hue. The hair is generally coarse and 
worn long. The beard is very thin, and its growth is carefully prevented by 
plucking. Methods-adopted by other tribes to create deformities of the head 
are comparatively unknown among the Nez Percds, who are generally better 
clad than some of their neighboring tribes. They build houses of straw and 
mats in the form of the roof of a house. Lewis and Clarke's narrative refers 
to one of these as one hundred and fifty feet long and about fifteen wide, closed 
at the ends and having a number of doors on each side. 

War and hunting were their chief occupation, but they were and are not 
infrequently compelled to resort to roots, and berries, and mosses. The fa- 
vorite roots are the camas, couse, and bitter root, and the natives to obtain 
these make regular migrations as for game or fish. The women are generally 
much more kindly treated among the Nez Percys and Pend d'Oreilles than 
among the generality of aboriginal tribes. 

In their personal habits, as well as the care of their lodges, the Nez 
Percds and Kootenais are mentioned as neat and cleanly. De Smet, however, 
represents the Pend d 'Oreille women as untidy, even for savages. "The 
inland families," says Bancroft, "cannot be called a warlike race." They 
seldom resort to arms, yet when fighting becomes necessary, the Cayuses, 
Nez Percys, Flatheads, and Kootenais are notably brave warriors for defense 
or vengeance against a foreign foe. The two former waged both defensive and 
aggressive warfare against the Snakes of the south, while the latter joined 
their arms against their common foes, the Blackfeet. Departure on a warlike 
expedition is preceded by ceremonies, including councils of the wise, great, 
and old, smoking the pipe, harangues by the chiefs, dances, and a general re- 
view or display of equestrian feats and maneuvers of battle. After battle 
they smoke the customary pipe of peace with the enemy, and renew their 
protestations of eternal friendship. In the matter of marriage, the standard 
of a wife's qualifications is her capacity for work. 

The Nez Percys have more and better stock than other nations. . Individ" 
uals often own large bands of horses. The Kootenais are the most northern 
tribe who are accustomed to the horse. It is supposed that these animals 
were introduced among the northern tribes by Shoshones from the south, the 
last named being connected with the Comanches, who obtained horses from 
the Spaniards during the sixteenth century. The rights of property are duly 
respected, but it is said that among the Salish nations on the death of the 
father his relatives would not scruple in the least to seize the most valuable 
property, regardless of the rights of the children who are too young to take 
care of themselves. With the Pend d'Oreilles, when reduced to severe straits, 
it was not uncommon to bury the very old and very young alive, because, they 
said, "these cannot take care of themselves, and they had better die. " On 
approaching his majority, the young Pend d'Oreille would be sent to a high 
mountain where he would have to remain until he dreamed of some animal, 
bird, or tish, which was to be thereafter his medicine. A claw, tooth, or feather 
of such animal was thereafter to be worn as his charm. The howling of certain 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 133 

beasts, especially of the medicine- wolf, was supposed to forebode evil. Among 
the Nez Percys it was the custom to overcome the spirit of fatigue, or mawish 
as it was called, by a certain ceremony which was supposed to confer great 
powers of endurance. This ceremony was repeated yearly from the age of 
eighteen to forty, and the performance would last three to seven days. lb 
consisted of thrusting Avillow sticks down the throat into the stomach, a 
succession of hot and cold baths, and fasting. 

Medicine-men are supposed to acquire wonderful powers by retiring to 
the mountains and conferring with the medicine-wolf, after which they become 
invulnerable, and bullets fired at them flatten on their breast. They have a 
superstitious fear of having their portraits taken. Steam baths or sweat- 
houses are used for the purpose of purification in their religious rites. These 
sweat-houses usually consist of a hole in the ground from three to eight feet 
deep, and about fifteen feet in diameter, with a small hole for entrance, 
which is closed up after the bather enters. A fire is built in this retreat by 
means of which stones are heated. In this oven-like receptacle, heated to a 
suffocating temperature, the naked native wallows in the steam and mud, 
singing, yelling, and praying, and at last rushes out dripping with perspiration, 
and plunges into the nearest stream. 

The good qualities of the Kootenais and Nez Percys have been commended 
by all having acquaintance with them. "Honest, just, and often charitable; 
ordinarily cold and reserved, but on occasions social and almost gay; quick- 
tempered and almost revengeful under what they consider injustice, but readily 
appeased by kind treatment; cruel only to captive enemies, stoical in the en- 
durance of torture; devotedly attached to home and family — these natives 
probably come as near as itis permitted to flesh and blood savages to the noble 
red man of the forest sometimes met in romance." 

The Nez Percys now on the reservation in Nez Perce" County at Fort 
Lapwai belong to the treaty Indians as opposed to the non-treaty Nez 
Percys who, under Joseph, were banished to Indian territory. The difficulties 
arising from the obstinacy of the non-treaties have been sufficiently de- 
tailed in the first chapter. The Nez Perces now in Idaho have ever been 
stanch friends of the whites ; they are brave, but industrious and peaceable. 
They number about 1,250. With the exception of the agricultural implements 
issued to them by the government, they can be justly termed self-supporting. 
Their means of support are agriculture and stock-raising. Each year witnesses 
decided advancements. According to Indian Agent Charles E. Monteith, 
last year these Indians cultivated 5,050 acres of land, being an increase of 550 
over the preceding year. They have now 7,300 acres under fence. Last year 
they raised 35,000 bushels of wheat, 5,000 bushels of corn, G,000 bushels of 
oats and barley, 10,850 bushels of vegetables, and 200 tons of hay. Among 
other results of their labor were 200 pounds of butter, 73,000 feet of lumber 
sawed, 450 cords of wood cut, 225 rods of fencing made, and $400 worth of 
furs sold. They possess 14,000 head of horses, 23 mules, 3,800 cattle, 875 
swine, and 3,000 domestic fowls. 

The children are said to be advancing nearly as rapidly in their school- 
room studies as average white children, and show a remarkable aptitude in all 
kinds of farm and garden work. Seventy-five children received instructions 
in the various branches of industry and book knowledge. The department 
has recently instituted a measure to compel the children to attend school by 
withholding government aid from those who refuse to send their children 
when called upon by the agent. 

At the suggestion of Mr. Monteith, a code of laws has been adopted by 
these Indians in council, and the result has been most satisfactory. Cases of 
drunkenness have been reduced two thirds. These laws are directed against 
not only drunkenness, but theft, interference in school matters, assault, wife- 
beating, and graver offenses. 

Laws of the Nez Perces. — The following were adopted by the Nez 
Percys at the suggestion of the early missionaries as their laws: 

Art. 1. Whoever willfully takes life shall be hanged. 

Art. 2. Whoever burns a dwelling-house shall be hanged. 

Art. 3. Whoever burns an out-building shall be imprisoned six months, 
receive fifty lashes, and pay all damages. 



138 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

Art. 4. Whoever carelessly burns a house or any property shall pay 
damages. 

Art. 5. If any one enter a dwelling without permission of the occupants, 
the chiefs shall punish him as they think proper. Public rooms are excepted. 

Art. 6. If any one steal, he shall pay back twofold; and if it be the 
value of a beaver skin or less, he shall receive twenty -five lashes ; and if the 
value be over a beaver skin, he shall pay back twofold, and receive fifty 
lashes. 

Art. 7. If any one take a horse and ride it without permission, or take 
any article and use it without liberty, he shall pay for the use of it, and receive 
from twenty to fifty lashes, as the chiefs shall direct. 

Art. 8. If any one enter a field and injure the crops, or throw down 
the fence so cattle and horses go in and do damage, he shall pay all damages, 
and receive twenty-five lashes for every offense. 

Art. 9. Those only may keep dogs who travel or live among the game; 
if a dog kill a lamb, calf, or any domestic animal, the owner shall pay the 
damages and kill the dog. 

Art. 10. If an Indian raise a gun or other weapon against a white man, 
it shall be reported to the chiefs, and they shall punish it. If a white man 
do the same to an Indian, it shall be reported to Dr. White, and he shall punish 
and redress it. 

Art. 11. If an Indian break these laws, he shall be punished by his 
chiefs; if a white man break them, he shall be reported to the agent, and 
punished at his instance. 

The Lemhi Indians are composed of Shoshones, Bannocks, and Sheep- 
eaters. There are about 800 in all. Mr. John Harries, agent, thus charac- 
terizes them : The Shoshone or Snake Indians are fairly honest, peaceable 
and intelligent. The Bannocks possess more of the sly cunning and innate 
restlessness of disposition than would appear to be good for them or agree- 
able to their nearest neighbors. The Sheepeaters are naturally quieter and 
less demonstrative than either, and therefore seem more inclined to take life 
easy. The Shoshone element largely predominates, and doubtless in a short 
time will absorb the other two, to the advantage of all. 

The Shoshone family is generally included in the California group of na- 
tive tribes. Their territory formerly spread over south-eastern Oregon and 
southern Idaho, extending into Utah, Arizona, and eastern Idaho. They are 
divided into several tribes, of which the Bannocks were originally one. The 
word "Shoshone" means " Snake Indian," though Ross is authority for the as- 
sertion that it means " inland." 

The Snakes are better dressed than the tribes farther south, and make 
some pretensions to ornamentation. Their clothing is generally made of the 
skins of larger game, ornamented with beads, shells, fringes, feathers, and 
pieces of brilliant-colored cloth. Their dwellings are also superior to those of 
the Utahs, though consisting chiefly of skins thrown over long poles leaning 
against each other in the form of a circle. A hole is left in the top for a chim- 
ney. Another one in the bottom, about three feet high, is used as a door, and 
closed by placing a skin against it. The poorer Shoshones live on pine-nuts, 
roots, berries, insects, rats, mice, and rabbits. Those living in Idaho, how : 
ever, generally are supplied with plenty of fish and game. In their native 
wild condition they can hardly be called a cleanly race. Their characteristic 
weapon is the poggamoggon. ' ' It consists of a heavy stone, sometimes wrapped 
in leather, attached by a sinew thong about two inches in length to the end 
of a stout, leather-covered handle measuring nearly two feet. A loop fastened 
to the end held in the hand prevents the warrior from losing the weapon in the 
fight, and allows him to hold the club in readiness while he uses the bow and 
arrow." 

The Snakes had a limited knowledge of pottery, and made very good ves- 
sels from baked clay. Some of these were in the form of jars, with narrow 
necks and stoppers. They possessed little knowledge of the use of boats be- 
yond crude and clumsy logs made of branches and rushes, generally prefer- 
ring to swim the streams. Dried fish, hoi'ses, skins, and furs were their cur- 
rency. No trade was indulged in unless preceded by a solemn smoke. Among 
the Idaho Snakes four and five beaver-skins were sold for a knife or an awl. 



RESOURCES OF IDA BO. 137 

Horses were held at the value of an ax. " A ship of seventy-four guns might 
have been loaded with provision, such as dried buffalo, bought with buttons 
and rings." The standard of values was absurdly confused. The utility of 
an article was a matter of no consideration. A beaver-skin could be bought 
with a brass ring, but a necklace of bears' claws could not be bought for a 
dozen such rings. Axes, knives, ammunition, beads, buttons, and rings were 
most in demand. For clothing the) 7 had little or no use; a blanket was worth 
no more than a knife, and a yard of fine cloth was worth less than a pot 
of vermilion. They had no established laws. Like all other Indians, they 
are natural gamblers, and take to "poker" with an aptitude that is aston- 
ishing. They are skillful riders, and possess good horses. " The Snakes 
have been considered," says Ross, "as rather a dull and degraded people, 
weak in intellect and wanting in courage. And this opinion is very prob- 
able to a casual observer at first sight, or when seen in small numbers, for 
their apparent timidity, grave and reserved habits, give them an air of 
stupidity. An intimate knowledge of the Snake character will, however, 
place them on an equal footing with that of other kindred nations, both 
in respect to their mental faculties and moral attributes." "The Sho- 
shones of Idaho," says a writer in the California Farmer, "are highly in- 
telligent and lively, the most virtuous and unsophisticated of all the Indians 
of the United States." 

The Bannocks are naturally a brave and warlike race. They inhabited 
the country between Fort Boise" and Fort Hall. As the name implies, it 
was given to those Indians who dug and lived on roots. At least, so says 
Johnston, in Schoolcraft's Archives. 

The Sheepeaters, like the Bannocks, are doubtless an offshoot of the 
Snake or Shoshone Indians. The Tookarikkas, or Sheepeaters, occupied the 
Salmon River country, the upper part of Snake River valley, and the 
mountains near Bois6 Basin. They belong to the genuine Snakes. Other 
inferior bands were the Hokandikas, or Salt Lake Diggers, who lived in 
the neighborhood of Salt Lake, and Aggitikkas, or Salmon-eaters, who 
occupied the region around Salmon Falls, on Snake River. The Bannocks 
are far inferior to the Shoshones or Snakes proper. 

Though the Lemhi Reservation is situated at an altitude of 5,500 feet, 
agriculture has been pursued with fair success. Thirty Indian families 
have now little patches of oats and garden stuff. The Indians raised last 
year about 2,000 bushels of oats, 40 bushels of potatoes, 50 bushels of tur- 
nips, 5 bushels of onions, and 20 bushels of other small vegetables. The 
quantity produced on the agency farm was small, as it was the first year's 
crop. 

These Lemhi Indians are greatly improving in habits of industry. Besides 
cultivating their little garden patches, many of them have been engaged in cut- 
ting rails, fencing, and ditching. They hauled over 40,000 pounds of freight 
last season from the railroad to the agency, a distance of seventy miles. '* The 
possession of wagons," says Mr. Harries, "by some Indians, is materially 
helping to lift what is literally a heavy burden off the backs of the squaws in 
the matter of the hauling of the firewood." Some difficulty has been en- 
countered in educating the children, as there is a superstition among them that 
"if the Indian children learn to read and write they will die." This feeling has 
such a strong hold upon the mothers particularly, that hitherto it has been 
difficult to overcome the prejudice against education. With the improvidence 
characteristic of the race, moreover, the rations issued to the lodges on Satur- 
day seldom last beyond Monday or Tuesday, so that unless the children are 
fed at the school, they are not likely to have much to eat the biggest part of 
the week. Indians are not superior to the generality of human nature, and 
naturally encounter some difficulty in studying on an empty stomach. It is 
intended to overcome these obstacles by establishing a boarding-school, where 
the physical as well as intellectual wants of the children will be properly 
cared for. 

The Indians stationed at the Fort Hall agency are both Bannocks and 
Shoshones. The latter are industrious, good-natured, and quiet. The Ban- 
nocks are more restless and roving. Of the 471 Bannocks registered there, 
240 last year were engaged in farming; while of the 1,085 Shoshones, fully 
10 



138 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

950 were so engaged. The crops raised were wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, 
and other root crops. 

According to the last report of Dr. A. S. Cook, agent at Fort Hall, the 
crops raised last year were as follows : 

240 acres of wheat 4, 200 bushels 

330 " " oats 9,600 

55 " " barley 1,500 

45 " "potatoes 3,000 " 

16 " " turnips 1,000 



606 acres. 19,300 

There is an Indian school at this agency, which is proving a success. 
The military buildings and property at Fort Hall, having been transferred to 
the Interior Department, are hereafter to be used for an industrial school. 
Workshops will be opened as fast as they can be made practicable. The Ind- 
ians take great interest in these shops, and it is believed that they will be a 
very successful feature in the ageucy. These Indians, according to Dr. Cook, 
are making steady advancement in agricultural and civilized pursuits. This 
is noticeable to all who come in contact with them, and they are manifesting 
an increased desire to conform to the customs of civilized life. They have 
commenced to acquire property for themselves. They purchased three mow- 
ing-machines, six hay-rakes, and two wagons this year; four more mowing- 
machines and two hay-rakes have been purchased, making seven mowers and 
eight hay-rakes owned by Indians. As they show so much inclination to in- 
dustry and civilized pursuits, it is believed that if a quarter-section of land 
should be allotted to each head of a family, and some assistance be given 
them to commence its cultivation, the reservation could then be thrown open 
to settlers, thus bringing the Indians into civilized communities. "I believe," 
says Dr. Cook, " that they would improve more from observation and neces- 
sity, and sooner become self-sustaining, than by the present method." 

Sign-language. — The use of sign-language exists to a greater or less 
degree among Idaho Indians as among most tribes. Thus the tribal sign of the 
Pend d'Oreilles is made by holding both fists as if grasping a paddle, verti- 
cally downward and working a canoe. Two strokes are made on each side of 
the body from the side backward. The tribal sign of the Nez Percys is made 
by closing the right hand, leaving the index straight, but flexed at right angles 
with the palm, then passing it horizontally to the left, by and under the 
nose. That of the Shoshone or Snake Indians is the right hand horizontal, 
flat, palm downward, advanced to the front by a motion to represent the 
crawling of a snake. For that of the Bannocks, make a whistling sound 
"phew " (beginning at a high note and ending about an octave lower) ; then 
draw the extended index finger across the throat from left to right, and 
out to nearly arm's length. They used to cut the throats of their prisoners. 

Major Haworth states that the Bannocks made the following sign for 
themselves : brush the flat right hand backward ever the forehead as if forc- 
ing back the hair. This represents the manner of wearing the tuft of hair 
backward from the forehead. He also states that the Shoshones make the 
same sign for the Bannocks as for themselves. 

It is not difficult to understand how readily ideas may be conveyed by 
signs and gestures. Thus the Shoshone sign for rain is made by holding the 
hand or hands at the height of and before the shoulder, fingers pendent, palm 
down, then pushingit downward a short distance. That for to weep is made by 
holding the hand as in rain, and the gesture made from the eye downward 
over the cheek, back of the fingers nearly touching the face. 

Brave, or strong-hearted is made by the Shoshone and Bannock Indians 
by merely placing the clenched fist to the breast, the latter having allusion to 
the heart, the clenching of the hand to strength, vigor, or force. 

As a good example illustrative of the universality of sign -language, may be 
mentioned the conversation which took place at Washington in 1880 between 
Tendoy, chief of the Shoshone and Bannock Indiana of Lemhi reservation, Ida- 
ho, and Huerito, one of the Apache chiefs from New Mexico, in the presence 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 139 

of Dr. W. J. Hoffman. Neither of these Indians spoke any language known 
to the other, had lived over a thousand miles apart, and had never met or 
heard of one another before. 

Huerito — Who are you ? 

Tendoy — Shoshone Chief. 

Huerito — How old are you ? 

Tendoy — Fifty-six. 

Huerito — Very well. Are there any buffalo in your country ? 

Tendoy — Yes ; many black buffalo. Did you hear anything from the Sec- 
retary ? If so tell me. 

Huerito — He told me that in four days I would go to my country. 

Tendoy — In two days I go to my country just as you go to yours. I go 
to mine where there is a great deal of snow, and we shall see each other no 
more. 

Here was an intelligent dialogue carried on by two savages, strangers to 
each other, without a word spoken on either side. Thus to make the last an- 
swer as Tendoy did, place the flat hands horizontally, about two feet apart, 
move them quickly in an upward curve toward one another until the right 
lies across the left, meaning night, repeat this sign, two nights, literally, twa 
sleeps hence; point toward the individual addressed with the right hand, you; 
and in a continuous movement pass the hand to the right, t. e. , toward the 
south, nearly to arm's length, go ; then throw the fist edgwise toward the 
ground at that distance, your country; then touch the breast with the tips of 
the left fingers, /; move the hand slowly toward the left, i. e., toward the 
north to arm's length, go to; and throw the clenched hand toward the ground, 
my country. Make the sign of rain as already described, then place the flat 
hands to the left of the body about two feet from the ground, deep ; literally, 
deep rain, snow. Raise the hands about a foot, very deep, much ; place the 
hands before the body, about twelve inches apart, palms down, with forefinger 
only extended and pointing toward one another ; push toward and from one 
another several times, see each other ; then hold the flat right hand in front of 
the breast pointing forward, palm to the left, and throw it once on its back 
toward the right, not, no more. 

In the first chapter of this work a brief synopsis was given of the Indian 
troubles which so long retarded the development of Idaho. All danger from 
that source has now been removed forever. The feeble remnants of once 
powerful tribes have settled down to the prosaic arts of peace. The great in- 
crease of white population, the construction of railroad and telegraph lines, the 
rapid diminution of their own numbers, all preclude the possibility of Indian 
outbreaks in the future. Yet we should be grossly lacking in appreciation if 
we should overlook the struggles and hardships endured by the early settler, 
in combating these treacherous foes, and rendering the land safe as it now is 
beyond the shadow of peril. Surely, when the true history of heroism is 
written, the story of our north-western pioneers should receive proper recog- 
nition. 



CHAPTER VIII.— MISCELLANEOUS. 



SCHOOLS. 



The cause of education is keeping pace with the material development of 
the Territory. There are at present 238 school districts and a school popula- 
tion (between five and twenty-one years of age) of 13,140. The school sys- 
tem consists of a territorial superintendent, county superintendents, and dis- 
trict trustees. 



140 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

The general school law provides that all moneys accruing from the sale 
of all lanils heretofore given, or which may hereafter be given, by the Con- 
gress of the United States for school purposes in said Territory, and all moneys 
that may hereafter be given and appropriated by the Congress of the United 
States for school purposes, unless the same by special provision shall be appro- 
priated for the establishment of a university or other high-school, together 
with any moneys by legacy or otherwise donated for educational purposes, and 
appropriated for the general fund, and all moneys accruing to the Territory 
from unclaimed moneys from the estates of deceased persons, shall be set apart 
and shall constitute an irreducible and indivisible Territorial General School 
Fund, the interest only accruing from which shall be appropriated to the 
respective counties of the Territory in the manner hereinafter specified and 
directed. 

For the purpose of establishing and maintaining public schools in the 
several counties of the Territory, it is the duty of the county commissioners 
of each county, at the time of levying the taxes for county and territorial pur- 
poses, to levy a tax of not less than two mills nor more than eight mills on 
each aud every dollar of taxable property in their respective counties for school 
purposes. 

The proceeds of fines and forfeitures, and certain licenses, also go to the 
county school fund. 

Boise" City and Lewiston each constitute an independent school district. 
Each has a graded school in every way creditable to the Territory. For more 
particular information concerning these graded schools, the reader is referred 
to the articles on Ada and Nez Perce* counties. Religious, sectarian, aud po- 
litical doctrines are expressly forbidden to be taught. 

Teachers' salaries vary according to locality and character of the school. 
In agricultural sections they range from $50 to $75 per month; in mining re- 
gions, from $60 to $125; and in the larger towns, from $65 to $150 per month. 

The schools generally are better than could be naturally expected in so 
new a country. Great care is exercised in the selection of teachers, and the 
home-seeker coming to Idaho may be sure of finding abundant educational 
facilities in the elementary and graded schools of the Territory. 

By the Act of February 18, 1881, Congress granted to the Territory of 
Idaho seventy-two sections of public lands for school purposes, under certain 
restrictions. These, with the 3,000,000 acres of school lands (sixteenth and 
thirty-sixth sections) allowed under the general law, will undoubtedly at some 
future day form the basis of a sound, substantial school system. 



CHURCHES. 

All the leading churches and denominations are well represented. 

Episcopalians. — Idaho and Utah constitute one missionary diocese, under 
the charge of Bishop D. S. Tuttle of Salt Lake City. There are In Idaho at 
present seven parishes, as follows: Boise City, St. Michael's; Silver City, St. 
James; Idaho City, St. Mark's; Lewiston, Nativity; Blackfoot, Holy Innocents; 
Bellevue, St. Paul's; Hailey, Emanuel; Ketchum, St. Mark's. Value of 
church property, $4,000. 

Methodist.— There are 10 Methodist church buildings, 7 parsonages, 15 
ministers in regular work, and a membership of 650. There are 2 church 
schools, Columbia River Conference Academy at Grangeville, Idaho County, 
and the Lewiston Collegiate Institute at Lewiston. Rev. W. A. Hall is the 
principal of the former, Rev. Levi Tarr, A. M., president of the latter. These 
schools are in a prosperous condition. Value of church property, exclusive of 
schools, $35,500. 

Presbyterians. — Churches, 7; schools, 5; church membership, 500; schol- 
ars, 400; ministers, 4; teachers, 10. Church and school property, $20,000. 

Baptists.— Churches, 5; namely, at Boise* City, Mann's Creek, Middleton, 
Payette, and Weiser. Membership, 139. 



EESOURCES OV IDAHO. 141 

Roman Catholics have parishes in the chief settlements. 

The Church of Latter-day Saints numbers a large following in- south- 
eastern Idaho. 



SOCIETIES. 

Masonic. — Grand Lodge of Idaho instituted December 17, 1867. Lodges 
under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Idaho, A. F. & A. M. 

No. Name. Location. Membership, 1883. 

1 Idaho Idaho City 43 

2 Boise Boise City 68 

3 Placer Plaeerville 27 

7 Shoshone Boise" City 37 

9 Mt. Idaho Mt. Idaho 52 

10 Nez Perce" Lewiston 55 

11 Lemhi Salmon City 35 

12 Alturas Rocky Bar 24 

13 Silver City Silver City 55 

14 Cassia Albion 20 

15 St. John Bellevue 22 

16 Hailey Hailey — 



12 438 

R. A. M. — Royal Arch Masons have chapters at the following places: 
Idaho, No. 1, Idaho City; Cyrus, No. 2, Silver City; Boise\ No. 3, Boise City; 
Lewiston, No. 4, Lewiston; Alturas, No. 5, Hailey. 

Knights Templar. — Idaho Commandery, No. 1, Boise 1 City. 

Odd Fellows. — Grand Lodge of Idaho instituted November 13, 1883. 
Lodges under jurisdiction of Grand Lodge of Idaho, I. 0. O. F. 

No. Name. Location. Membership. Value of Property. 

1 Pioneer Idaho City 31 $3,000 

2 Owyhee Silver City 55 2,000 

3 Ada Boise City 59 5,000 

4 Excelsior Centreville 20. 1,800 

5 Rocky Mountain . . . .Salmon City 23 3,000 

6 Covenant Plaeerville ' 21 2,000 

7 Mt. Idaho Mt. Idaho 16 1,000 

8 Lewiston Lewiston 40 1,500 

9 Bellevue Bellevue 35 1,000 

10. Caldwell Caldwell 20 500 



Total 320 $20,800 

Encampment. — Idaho Encampment, No. 1, Boise" City; membership, 38. 

Grand Army of the Republic, under the Department of Utah, including 
Utah, Idaho, and Montana. G. A. R. Posts in Idaho: 

James A. Garfield No. 4 Bellevue. 

A. Guernsey No. 5 Lewiston. 

McPherson No. 7 Salmon City. 

Patrick Collins No. 11 BoisS City. 



142 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

United Workmen.— Under the Grand Lodge of Nevada. Lodges of 
A. 0. U. W. in Idaho: 

No. Name. Location. 

1 , Hailey Hailey. 

2 Ketchum Ketchum. 

3 Bullion. . . , Bullion. 

4 Shoshone Shoshone. 

5 Idaho Boise" City. 

6 . „ ^ Teton Eagle Rock. 

7 Gate City Bellevue. 



NEWSPAPERS. 

Daily. 

* Wood River Time's Hailey, Alturas County. 

*News Miner Hailey, Alturas County. 

* Inter-Idaho Hailey, Alturas County. 

Tri-Weekly. 

* Statesman Boise* City, Ada County. 

Sun Murray, Shoshone County. 

* Keystone Xetchum, Alturas County. 

Semi- Weekly. 

*World. Idaho City, Boise* County. 

Democrat Boise* City, Ada County. 

Weekly. 

Republican Boise* City, Ada County. 

Tribune .>. Caldwell, Ada County. 

Chronicle Bellevue, Alturas County. 

Journal Shoshone, Alturas County. 

Democrat Paris, Bear Lake County. 

Messenger , Challis, Custer County. 

Press Houston, Custer County. 

Courier Rathdrum, Kootenai County. 

Teller Lewiston, Nez Perce* County. 

Nez Perce" News Lewiston, Nez Perce County. 

Mirror Moscow, Nez Perce County. 

Register . . Eagle Rock, Oneida County. 

Herald Soda Springs, Oneida County. 

Avalanche Silver City, Owyhee County. 

Leader Weiser City, VVashington County. 

*Also Weekly. 



U. S. LAND-OFFICES. 

Land-offices have been located as follows: Boise* City, Ada County; Lew- 
iston, Nez Perce County; Oxford, Oneida County; and Hailey, Alturas County. 
The Coeur d'Alene land-office was recently established, but is not yet in 
active operation. 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 



143 



RAILROADS. 

The railroad system of Idaho has been sufficiently described in the first 
chapter. For the information of those desiring to visit Idaho, we subjoin the 
following tables of distances taken from the latest railway schedules. 

Union Pacific Railway. — Oregon Short Line, trains daily. Emigrant 
passengers carried on express trains. 



"Westward. 



Day of the 
Week. 



No. 1 
Oregon 
Express. 



»23 
ft o 



STATIONS. 



Popula- 
tion. 







P. M. 




Sunday .... 


8 25 

A. M. 





Tuesday. . . . 


11 00 


876 


<« 


11 36 

P. M. 


891 






12 39 


918 






12 46 


920 






12 59 


925 






1 50 


947 






2 45 


959 






3 09 


968 






3 25 


974 






4 25 


991 






5 01 


1005 






5 41 


1020 






5 45 


1021 






6 30 


1038 






7 11 


1053 






7 50 


1067 






8 19 


1078 






8 50 

9 25 


1090 






9 40 


1099 






10 20 


1115 






11 00 


1132 






11 38 


1148 




A. M. 




Wednesday 


12 18 


1165 






2 00 


1197 






2 39 


1213 






3 49 


1241 






4 50 


1261 






5 40 


1279 






6 43 


1305 






7 30 


1324 






8 35 


1343 






9 15 


1358 






10 05 


1376 






10 12 


1378 






10 50 


1391 






11 35 


1407 






Noon 


1416 



.Omaha Ar 50,000 



, Granger. 
.Nutria.. 



. . . .Ham's Fork. .. 
. . . .Twin Creek. . . , 

Fossil 

Beck with. 

, Cokeville, Wyoming 

Border 

. ..Nuphar, Idaho. . , 
. . . . Montpelier . . . , 

Novene 

.... Stock Yards. . . . 
.... Soda Springs. . . , 
. . . Squaw Creek . .' . 

Lava 

McCammon. . . . 

Inkom 



Ar 
Lv 



Pocatello 



. . ..Michaud . . . 
American Falls 

Wapi 

. . . Minidoka . . . 



Kimama. . . . , 

Shoshone* . . , 

Toponis 

King Hill.... 

Medbury . . . . 

Mountain Home. 

Bisuka 

. , Kunaf 

Caldwell . . . . 

Parma 

Ontario 

Payette 

Weiser 

Old's Ferry . . . 

Ar Huntington. . . 



♦Connects with Wood River branch. 

tConnects with daily stages for Boise, Idaho, and Silver cities. 



Lv 
Ar 



Lv 



50 
100 



500 
50 



50 
100 
100 



500 



50 



50 
400 



100 
100 
700 



144 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 



Wood River Branch. 

Miles. Stations. 

Shoshone. 

14 Pina. 

30 Tikura. 

37 Picabo. 

52. . . . , Be]]«vue. 

57 Hailey. 

64 Gimlet. 

69 . Ketchum. 

Utah and Northern Railway. 



Distance 

from 
Ogcten. 



78. 

90. 
101. 
125. 
132. 
154. 
166. 
179. 
205. 
222. 
243. 
272. 
300. 
323. 
454. 



Ogden, Utah . . 
Franklin, Idaho 
Battle Creek . . . 

Oxford 

Arirao 

McCammon* . . . 

Pocatellof 

Ross Fork 

BlackfootJ 

Eagle Rock .... 
Market Lake . . . 

Camas , 

Beaver Caiion. . . 
Spring Hill .... 

Red Rock§ 

Garrison II 



Population. 



8,000 
1,000 



500 
300 



100 



300 
600 



50 
500 
100 
100 



Elevation. 



4,294 
4,510 
4,497 
4,771 
4,656 



4,492 



4,512 
4,720 

4,789 

6,035 

6,196 
5,610 



* Daily stage to Malad, 36 miles, 
t Connects with Oregon Short Line for the west. 

j C nnects with daily stages for Arco, Houston, Lost River, Challis, Bayhorse, Bonanza, 
and Yankee Fork. 

§ Connects with daily stages for Salmon City and Lemhi mines. 
Q Connects with Northern Pacific. 

Rates of Fare from Omaha. 



TO— 



Beaver Caiion 
Bellevue 
Blackfoot . . . 
Boise City. • . 

Caldwell 

Challis 

Eagle Rock . . , 

Hailey 

Idaho City . . 
Ketchum 

Kuna 

Lewiston .... 
Pocatello .... 
Salmon City . . 
Shoshone. . . . 
Weiser City 



67 20 
79 80 

68 20 
72 80 
92 85 
54 00 
79 45 
62 00 
78 45 



1st Class. 


2d Class. 


$63 40 


$42 50 


66 80 


52 80 


55 95 


41 95 


74 80 


60 80 


74 30 


60 30 


78 95 
58 on 


61 95 



53 20 
65 SO 

54 20 
58 80 
77 40 
40 00 
54 50 
48 60 
64 45 



Emigrant 



$45 00 



47 00 
45 00 



45 00 
52 00 
45 00 
45 00 
49 00 



45 00 
45 00 



Distance 

from 
Omaha. 



1,390 

1,248 

1,115. 

1,339 

1,343 

1,265 

1,141 

1.254 

1,375 

1,266 

1,324 

1,090 
1,360 
1,197 
1,391 



RESOURCES OE IDAHO. 145 

Korthern Pacific. — Distance from St. Paul. 

Miles. 

Garrison* « 1,206 

Thompson's Fallsf 1,381 

Trout Creekf 1,404 

Sand Point 1,467 

Rathdrumf 1,509 

Walla Walla 1,729 

* Junction Utah and Northern Railway t Outfitting points for Cceur d'Alene. 

WAGES IN IDAHO. 

Bakers, per month and board rr~~~~~. . ,~ . . -$65 00 

Blacksmiths, per day , 5 00 

Bookkeepers, per month 125 00 

Bricklayers, per day 5 00 

Butchers, per month and board 65 00 

Carpenters, per day 4 00 

First cook, per month and board = 110 00 

Second" " " " " 55 00 

Cooks in families, per month and board 30 00 

Chambermaids, " «* " " 30 00 

Clerks, per month 80 00 

Dressmakers 70 00 

Dairymen, per month and board 25 00 

Engineers in mills, per day 4 50 

Farm hands, per month and board . . 25 00 

Harness-makers, per day 3 00 

Hostlers, per month and board 50 00 

Laundresses, " " " 30 00 

Laborers, " " " 35 00 

Lumbermen, " " " 50 00 

Machinists, per day ^ 4 50 

Miners, " 3 50 

Millers, per month and board 65 00 

Mill wrights, per day 4 50 

Painters, " 4 00 

Printers, per week 20 00 

Plasterers, per day 6 00 

School-teachers, per month 65 00 

Servants, per month and board 30 00 

Shepherds," " " " 30 00 

Stonemasons, per day 6 00 

Teamsters, per month and board ^ 50 00 

Waiters, " " " " „ . 55 00 



IDAHO ALTITUDES. 

Following are elevations of all prominent towns, lakes, valleys, etc., of 
Idaho, as ascertained by the observations of Prof. Hay den and other explorers: 

Place. Feet. 

American Falls- .-.-.. 4,320 

Atlanta 5,525 

Alturas Lake 6,600 

Bear River Bridge 5,744 

Bennington ' 5,798 

Blackfoot Fork Bridge 4,456 

Blackfoot City 4,523 

Blackfoot Peak 7,490 



146 RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 

Place. Feet. 

Bear Lake... 5,900 

Black Rock 5,500 

Bfioomington 5,985 

Bonanza City 0,400 

Bellevue 5,2U0 

Boise City 2,800 

Big Camas Prairie 4,000 

Camas Prairie (North) 3,500 

Camas Station ' 4, 722 

Clifton _ . .. 4,893 

Coeur d'Alene Mission 2,280 

Cottonwood 3, 300 

Clawson Toll Gate 4,300 

Custer Mine 8,400 

Craig Mountain 4,080 

Custer Mountain 8, 7G0 

Caribou Mountain 9,854 

Custer City 6,560 

Centreville. .- 4,825 

Challis 5,400 

Dry Creek Station 5,689 

Eagle Rock 4,720 

Elk Prairie. 2,380 

Estes Mountain 10,050 

Fort Hall 4,783 

Fort Lapwai 2,000 

Franklin City t 4,516 

Florida Mountain 7,750 

Florence 8,000 

Fish Haven 5,932 

Forks of Lolo 4,450 

• Gentile Valley (head) 5,245 

Galena City 7,900 

Gladiator Mine 9,700 

Grand Teton 13, 691 

Georgetown 5,800 

Georgetown Peak 8,646 

Henry Lake 6,443 

Junction of Lolo and Middle Forks Clearwater 1,304 

Junction of South and Middle Forks Clearwater 1,110 

Idaho City 4,263 

Junction Station 6,329 

Jessie Benton Mine 7,600 

Jackson Lake 6, 806 

Ketchum 5, 700 

Keeney's Station 4,933 

Laketown 6,000 

Lewiston 680 

Little Salmon Meadows 3,500 

Lake Pend d'Oreille 1,456 

Liberty 6,060 

Lake Coeur d'Alene 3,500 

Long Valley 3,700 

Malade City 4,700 

Market Lake 4, 795 

Montpelier 5,793 

Morristown 5, 700 

Moose Lake 5,600 

Mouth of Owyhee River 2, 130 

Mouth of Port Neuf River 4,522 

Mount Idaho City 3.4S0 

Mount Stevens 7,000 



RESOURCES OF IDAHO. 147 

Place. Feet. 

Montana Mine ^^*. 9,500 

Meade Mountain* * 10, 540 

Mount Preuss 9,979 

Marsh Cone 7,663 

Malade Mountain 9,220 

Oneida Salt Works , 6,300 

Oneida (town) 5, 700 

Ovid , 5,760 

Oxford 4, 862 

Oliver Call's Bridge .-." 3,304 

Paris . 5,836 

Pleasant Valley Station 6,086 

Pocatello Station 4,512 

Packer's Bridge 4,500 

Paris Peak 9,522 

Placerville 5, 100 

Putnam Mountain 8, 933 

Quartzburg * 5,1 15 

Ross Fork Station 4,394 

Red Rock Ranch 4,792 

Rock Creek 4,513 

Rocky Bar 5,200 

Red Fish Lake 6,600 

Sawtelle's Peak 9,070 

St. Charles. 5,932 

St. George 5,771 

Salmon City 4,030 

Salt River Valley 5,800 

Soda Springs 5,779 

Sweetwater Crossing 1,360 

Silver City 6, 680 

Sawtooth City 7,000 

Soda Peak 9,683 

Summit, between Challis and Bonanza r 9, 100 

Summit, between Boise and Idaho 4,815 

Summit, between Idaho City and Centerville 4,812 

South Mountain City 6,450 

Salmon Falls 3,226 

Stoner's Station . . 4, 621 

Shaw's Mountain Station 3. 547 

Stierman's Station 3, 745 

Upper Weiser Valley 3,000 

Wood River (average) 4, 900 

War Eagle Mountain 7,980 

Weston w 4,600 

Yuba City . * „ ...... •.•<•.». ..»«*. *.. .. 5,650 



^^H&«^ 



INDEX. 



"•m^H""*"— 



CHAPTER I.— HISTORICAL. 

Page. 

Organization » 9 

Origin of the Name _ 10 

First Discoverers 11 

Indian Depredations 13 

Development . . ^... 19 



CHAPTER II.— DESCRIPTIVE. 

Mountains ...... 22 

Rivers 22 

Valleys 23 

Climate 24 

Natural Scenery 26 

Lakes 28 



CHAPTER III.— NATIVE TREES, PLANTS, AND ANIMALS. 

Timber . . . . 29 

Wild Fruits 31 

Grasses 31 

Wild Flowers 31 

Native Animals. ......... , 32 



CHAPTER IV.— MINING. 

Discovery of Gold 33 

Wood River's Record 38 

Snake River Placers 39 



CHAPTER V.— FARMING AND STOCK-RAISING. 

Soils. , 47 

Stock-raising 51 

The Reclamation of Desert Lands 53 

(149) 



150 INDEX. 

CHAPTER VI.— COUNTIES OP IDAHO. 

Page. 

Ada County 54 

Alturas County 65 

The Great Central Wood River Region 69 

Bear Lake County 76 

Boise County 79 

Cassia County 81 

Custer County 86 

Idaho County 94 

Kootenai County 98 

Lemhi County 101 

Nez Perc6 County — North Idaho 110 

Oneida County - 112" 

Owyhee County 118 

Shoshone County 121 

Washington County 131 

CHAPTER VII.— IDAHO INDIANS. 

Native Tribes. 133 138 



CHAPTER VIH.— MISCELLANEOUS. 

Schools 139 

Churches 140 

Societies 141 

Newspapers 142 

U. S. Land-offices 142 

Railroads 143 

Wages in Idaho 145 

Idaho Altitudes 145 



w 



)t 




